Godzilla & Gamera: The Gyaos War
by JJ Rust
Summary: An accident creates a portal between two Earths. Swarms of Gyaos threaten both worlds. Now two of history's greatest monsters must team up to stop them. Features characters from my fics "Godzilla vs. Gigan: Dawn of the Tyrant" & "Gamera the Defender."
1. Chapter 1

_I never thought I'd be fighting monsters again._

Lieutenant Commander Jim Rice brought up his MM-1 grenade launcher. He stared past the weapon's sights at the giant, winged monster with scaly brown skin and a diamond-shaped head. It opened is jaws, letting out a horrific screech. The beast soared over the tightly packed buildings of Tokyo, heading for the skyscraper where Rice stood.

He ignored the howling wind blowing across the rooftop and fired. The grenade exploded against the Gyaos's shoulder. Rice fired three more high explosive rounds. Orange flames and sparks burst around the monster's head. It roared and banked to the right.

Yellow tracers sliced through the air, tearing into the Gyaos's back. Rice glanced at a solidly built, barrel-chested man near the rampart firing a .50 caliber machine gun. Another SEAL, lean, firm and square-jawed, hefted a tubular SMAW onto his shoulder. A flash of orange burst from the rocket launcher's rear, followed by a sharp _thump. _The projectile streaked away from the roof and hit the Gyaos's right wing. The monster wailed as fire and smoke rippled from it.

A second rocket struck the Gyaos. Flames and flesh exploded near its neck. The creature let out a strangled cry and rolled. It crashed into the side of a nearby skyscraper. A flurry of glass fragments rained down on the street. The limp Gyaos tumbled a few times and smashed into a row of stalled vehicles. Dread gripped Rice's insides. He prayed the drivers and passengers had abandoned their cars.

Rice watched Senior Chief Hank Warthan lower his SMAW. The stout black man turned to him. "That's one down, and a shitload more to go."

"You're not kidding." Rice scanned the Tokyo skyline, gritting his teeth.

Dozens of Gyaos swarmed over the city. He spotted two carrying buses in their jaws. Another knocked a bullet train from its tracks. Several columns of smoke rose into the orange/gray evening sky. Rice's eyes settled on a burning skyscraper down the street, his chest tightening at the sight of a tail boom sticking out of the structure. The tail boom of the Seahawk helicopter that dropped them off on this roof.

His mind pulled him back to over a year ago, to another battle involving monsters. The North Koreans had used Thulgira to spearhead their invasion of the south, and would have conquered the entire peninsula had it not been for Gamera.

_We sure could use you right now, big guy. _Rice's hand went to his chest. He felt the hook-shaped pendant under his blue/gray pixilated "blueberry" utility uniform. Not an ounce of warmth radiated from it, as it had when he'd had his psychic link with Gamera.

"Incoming!" hollered the machine gunner, Candaele.

Rice looked up. Another Gyaos dove toward their skyscraper. It unleashed a piercing wail.

The .50 cal chugged, spitting out tracers. Rice raised his grenade launcher and fired four rounds. Warthan and the other SEAL, Bill Lonborg, let loose more rockets. Fireballs sprouted across the monster. Flaming chunks of flesh spiraled away from it. Fifty caliber rounds raked its wings and shoulders. The beast screeched.

A deep _punch_ erupted nearby. Rice glanced at Mongkut as he readjusted the Barrett .50 caliber sniper rifle resting on the rampart. The short, muscular Thai man fired again. Blood gushed from the back of the Gyaos's skull. It dropped to the street.

Jet engines roared overhead while Rice reloaded his MM-1. Japanese F-15Js and American F/A-18s from the carrier _Reagan_ rocketed across the darkening sky. He watched a contrail from an F-15J connect with a Gyaos. A cloud of orange and black blotted out half its body. The monster tumbled from the sky in flames.

A yellow beam slashed through the sky. It struck an F/A-18, cutting it in half. The canopy flew off, followed by an ejection seat. Icy needles dug into Rice's stomach when he saw the parachute blossom.

_C'mon, c'mon. Get on the ground._

A Gyaos swooped in and snapped its jaws around the falling pilot.

"Dammit," Rice growled, looking down at his grenade launcher. He wished the monster was in range so he could blow the shit out of the ugly bastard.

"Poor guy never had a chance," said the lanky Felix Soto, who gripped a stubby M25 grenade launcher.

A piercing wail sounded behind Rice. He spun around.

The head of a Gyaos poked over the edge of the rampart.

Rice pushed down his rising fear, forgetting about the rows of sharp teeth in that triangular maw. He brought up his grenade launcher and fired. Milky white clouds exploded around the Gyaos. It screeched as white phosphorus burned its skin. Soto hit it with two armor-piercing grenades. Candaele sent a stream of .50 caliber rounds into the Gyaos's neck. It reeled back and vanished from sight.

"Soto with me." Rice sprinted across the rooftop, the other SEAL following. He looked over the rampart. The Gyaos lay on the street below, unmoving.

The shriek of jets filled the sky. Rice snapped his head right. Two twin-tailed F/A-18s dropped behind a Gyaos, spraying it with 20mm rounds. The monster shuddered, then crumpled and dropped from the sky.

Rice spotted something beyond the F/A-18s. Another, larger aircraft. An airliner, maybe a 767, flying low over the city.

_What the hell are they doing? _All civilian air traffic had been diverted from Tokyo. Didn't the dumbass pilot get the message?

"Soto. Contact _Reagan_. Tell 'em we have a civilian aircraft over Tokyo. We gotta get that thing out of here."

"Yes, sir."

The two SEALs hustled back to the others. White streaks from Warthan's and Lonborg's SMAW's raced into the sky. Tracers from Candaele's .50 cal followed. Rice watched a Gyaos bank right. The rockets streaked past it. The monster opened its mouth. The air around it vibrated.

_Oh shit. _Fear slithered through Rice. He knew what was coming. "Down!"

The SEALs threw themselves flat on their stomachs. Rice shut his eyes. The image of a beautiful Hispanic woman with high cheekbones and long black, curly hair formed in his head. His throat tightened. Would he ever see his wife, Rita, again?

A whining, sizzling noise surrounded him. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end. Rice tensed. This was it.

A quake rocked the roof. Crashes and thumps pounded his ears. A rush of heat flashed over him.

Then all was still.

Holding his breath, Rice pushed himself up. He scanned in front of him. Warthan, Candaele, Mongkut and Lonborg were all alive.

"Damn. Close call, Sir," said Soto.

Rice nodded, then checked over his shoulder. "Too damn close."

Twenty feet away, the roof had collapsed into a flaming pile of rubble. His jaw stiffened when he noticed the Gyaos's sonic beam also took out the square-shaped roof entrance.

"Sir!" yelled Candaele. "The Gyaos are massing!"

Rice lifted his head toward the sky. His stomach knotted. Ten Gyaos circled overhead, letting out shrill roars.

He looked back at the collapsed portion of the roof. No exit there. They did have ropes, which they could use to rappel down the side of the skyscraper, then break out some windows and retreat inside. But dangling from a tall building would leave them vulnerable to the Gyaos.

Fear boiled up within him. He beat it down. Only one option remained for him and his team.

Rice and Soto rejoined the others. All of them stared at the sky. The Gyaos let out prolonged roars, then dove at the skyscraper.

"New plan guys," said Rice. "Don't stop shooting."

They all raised their weapons. Rice's heart slammed against his chest.

"I love you, Rita," he whispered, his finger tightened around the trigger.

Another roar washed over them like a grinding thunderclap. Rice turned to the left. His eyes widened.

The 767 dove at the Gyaos.

_Is that guy crazy? _His forehead crinkled. Just behind the airplane's cockpit was a large dome-like projection with a hole in the center. Definitely not standard on a 767.

The Gyaos shrieked. Rice turned back to them, ready to fire.

A blue flash lit up the evening sky in front of him. A conical beam shot from the 767 and enveloped the Gyaos. All ten creatures shimmered and vanished.

Rice's gaze remained fixed on the spot where the Gyaos had been. He blinked a couple of times. _Did that just happen?_

The 767 roared above them, rattling the building, and Rice's ears and skull. He clenched his teeth and pressed his hands against his ears. So did the other Navy SEALs.

The plane soared over Tokyo Bay, then wheeled to the right. It flew toward another cluster of Gyaos. Rice watched as the 767 fired another blue ray. It swept over seven Gyaos. They, too, disappeared.

The surviving monsters flew toward the ocean, many with buses, train cars, even small boats in the mouths or talons. The fighter jets followed, shooting down a few before creatures they vanished from sight.

Rice scanned the sky, spotting the 767 as it left Tokyo behind. He noticed Soto next to him, also watching the plane, mouth agape. Slowly, he turned to Rice and said, "Um, what the hell was that?"

**XXXXX**

Night had fallen by the time another Seahawk arrived to collect Rice and his SEALs. The flight back to the _USS Ronald Reagan _took about thirty minutes. They piled out of the helicopter and made their way across the flight deck, weaving around dozens of men and women in brightly colored vests; purple for fuel handlers, blue for plane handlers, red for ordnance handlers, green for maintenance, white for air wing control personnel. Rice kept his head on a swivel, aware of his surroundings. The deck of an aircraft carrier was not place to zone out. One second on inattention and you could get sucked into a jet engine or run over by an ordnance cart.

None of that happened to him or his SEALS. They made it to the ship's island without incident.

"Man, they did it." Candaele said. "The Japanese actually built a . . . well, a phaser. I mean, like the ones on the old _Star Trek _that vaporized you."

"That wasn't vaporization," Soto pointed out. "Those Gyaos just ceased to exist. And that should be impossible."

"It's not impossible, Soto," Lonborg said bluntly. "You saw it yourself. That laser hit those birds and they disintegrated. End of story."

"No." Soto shook his head. "They didn't disintegrate. If they did, there'd be dust or something left over. Conservation of mass states that you can't destroy matter."

Lonborg snorted. "You ever seen what a JDAM can do?"

"It doesn't matter how big the bomb is, it'll leave debris behind. Even a nuke can't just annihilate matter, but the particles can be rearranged into something different."

"Damn, Soto," said Warthan. "With a brain like yours, you oughta be workin' for NASA or something."

"I'm not cut out to spend eight hours a day at a desk staring at a computer screen, Senior Chief."

Rice just started down one of the ladders when a whistle piped through the speakers of the _Reagan's _1-MC.

"Commander Rice and his SEAL team, report to the admiral's quarters at once."

"Guess the old man wants the rundown on what happened in Tokyo," said Warthan.

Rice nodded. "Well it's gonna be one helluva rundown."

A few minutes later, the six SEALS stood outside a hatch with a sign reading, RADM COLE BREEDEN: CARRIER STRIKE GROUP CMDR. Rice knocked.

"Enter."

The men went inside. A portly man with glasses and short gray hair looked up at them. The SEALs came to attention.

"At ease," said Rear Admiral Breeden. "So I'm assuming you got an up close view of Japan's newest weapon."

"We did, sir." Rice nodded. "Any idea what it was?"

"I put in a call to the head of the Maritime Self-Defense Force. Tonight was the first he'd ever heard of it. The Japanese must have been keeping it under wraps."

"Whatever it was, it looks like it drove those damn monsters away."

Breeden's shoulders sagged. "Don't get too excited, Commander."

Rice tilted his head. "What do you mean, sir?"

"Tokyo wasn't the only place that got hit. We've received reports of Gyaos attacks in Taipei, Hong Kong, Manila and Vladivostok. There are also other Gyaos swarms heading toward Indonesia, Australia, Alaska and Hawaii."

Breeden surveyed Rice and the other SEALS. "This isn't over, gentlemen. Not by a longshot."

_**TO BE CONTINUED**_

* * *

**Author's Note: **_Jim Rice and his SEAL team first appeared in my fanfic "Gamera the Defender."_


	2. Chapter 2

_ON ANOTHER EARTH_

* * *

Major Jeff Yamagata, USMC, inhaled deeply as he stared out the cockpit window of his MF-3 Excalibur. Blue skies and white clouds stretched before him. A beautiful day to fly.

Though after ten months on the ground, it wouldn't have mattered if it was gray and rainy, it'd still be a beautiful day to fly.

He reached out and patted the console. Yamagata had lost count at how many times he'd done that since taking off from Edwards Air Force Base in California. He'd probably do it a dozen more times before he landed in Kansas. He didn't care. It just felt good to fly again.

"Uh, you two wanna be alone?" The dark-haired, narrow-faced man sitting next to him nodded at Yamagata's hand on the console.

"Ha ha, funny," he said to Lieutenant Mike "Gov" McGovern, his co-pilot and weapons systems officer. "Don't tell me you're not thrilled to be back in the cockpit."

"I am. I just don't have a desire to shag our plane." McGovern looked over his shoulder to the man with short black hair and a small but firm build seated behind another console. "What about you, Caputo? Any romantic desires on our Excalibur?"

Staff Sergeant Andy Caputo, the plane's sensor specialist, cranked an eyebrow. "Um, well, you know, everyone has different ways of expressing their happiness."

"Good answer, Caputo," said Yamagata.

"Thank you, sir."

McGovern gave a snorting chuckle, then turned back to Yamagata. "Hell, Ninja, I don't blame you for getting all touchy-feely with the plane. I don't know how much debris I picked up these last few months. Tons, probably. I couldn't wait to get back in the sky."

"At least you did something important. I got turned into a recruiting poster with legs."

"Well, we do have to build up our forces after what happened."

Yamagata nodded. Much as he hated his PR tour, it did result in a lot of men and women joining the Marine Corps. They, and the rest of the Armed Forces, suffered heavy losses when President Zamora unleashed Gigan on the country. Dozens of cities had been destroyed, giving Zamora the excuse to implement martial law and set himself up as a dictator. His rule ended in a brief, but bloody, Second Civil War, in which Yamagata played a key role. Instead of taking part in relief and rebuilding efforts like many military members, The Corps used his celebrity to bring in new recruits.

When he reached the eastern part of Colorado, Yamagata began his descent. He crossed the length of Kansas, heading for Kansas City, Missouri. The long, gray lines of the runways of Joint Base Richards-Gebaur soon came into view.

The landing went smoothly. Yamagata taxied the jet onto the tarmac. The whine of the engine decreased, then fell silent. He removed his straps, as did McGovern and Caputo. They exited the Excalibur just as another black, oblong aircraft with swept wings and a V-shaped tail approached the runway.

Yamagata watched it, tightness forming in his throat. He wanted it to be "Burner" Ashby, "Sockman" Pena and Sergeant Dillard in that jet. All three, however, died when Gigan took out their Excalibur over Miami.

"Oh look," a baritone voice came from behind him. "It's the big time celebrity. I figured you'd have your own reality show by now."

Yamagata swung around. A lean black man stood a few feet away, a smirk on his round face.

"I sure as hell couldn't leave this squadron in your hands," said Yamagata. "It'd go to hell."

Lieutenant Ty "Blade" Sharpe glared at him, then burst out laughing. The two came together, clasping hands and slapping one another on the shoulder.

"Welcome back, Ninja."

"Good to be home again." Yamagata smiled wide.

"I just hope all those interviews and talk show appearances didn't make you soft." Blade needled him.

"Hey, you didn't see me pancake into the runway, did you?" Yamagata pointed to his jet.

The other Excalibur touched down and rolled toward the tarmac.

"Well, here are the newest members of our merry band," said Yamagata.

Blade just grunted.

Yamagata looked at him, keeping a frown off his face. Blade hadn't even met the trio and already he seemed determined not to like them.

The Excalibur halted next to Yamagata's plane. An access ladder lowered from the side of the aircraft. Out stepped a tall, athletic woman with short black hair, followed a skinny red-headed man and a brown-haired man with the compact physique of a wrestler.

The woman got within a few feet of Yamagata and the others and stopped. She looked left, then right. Her face scrunched into a mask of disapproval. "Ugh. The Midwest. No ocean for a thousand miles. So much for surfing and waterskiing."

"I'm sure you'll survive. Now, Blade," Yamagata turned to the Navy pilot. "Let me introduce you to our new Excalibur crew, Captain Erika "Winter" Snow, Lieutenant Tom "Sunburn" Kemp, and Staff Sergeant Ken Robinson. Gentlemen and lady, Lieutenant Ty 'Blade' Sharpe."

"Heard a lot about you, Navy." Winter gave him a half-grin. "You're a pretty decent pilot." She stuck out her hand.

Blade hesitated, glanced at Yamagata, then gave Winter's hand a short, perfunctory shake. "I'm a _damn good_ pilot. You should've seen what I did during the Battle of Miami."

"Uh-huh." She cast her eyes to the ground.

Blade also gave Kemp and Robinson brief handshakes. Awkward silence fell over the group.

"Caputo." Yamagata turned to his sensor specialist. "Show Captain Snow and her crew to their quarters."

"Yes, sir. This way."

Caputo led the newest members of the 1st Joint Special Combat Squadron away from the tarmac. Yamagata noticed Blade watching them go, eyes narrowed in a glare.

"At least try to give them a chance," urged Yamagata.

"Is that an order?" Blade faced him.

"I can make it one."

Blade let out a slow breath. His jaw stiffened for a moment. "They're part of this squadron. I'll treat them professionally, when we're up there fighting King Ghidorah or Megalon, I'll have their backs. But don't expect me to exchange Christmas cards with them."

"Even I can't order you to be friends with them."

Blade emitted a short grunt. "I have to say, you surprise me."

"How so?" asked Yamagata.

"I never took you for the social engineering type."

"You know what kind of rift there is in the Armed Forces, Blade. A lot of service members who stood up to Zamora's rule are still pissed at the ones who didn't. We can't be an effective fighting force if we're not on the same page."

"You think having a pilot and crew who fought for the other side is going to change that?"

"Probably not overnight," Yamagata admitted. "But you gotta start somewhere. Besides, they didn't technically fight for Zamora. Kemp and Robinson pretty much stayed on base during the Civil War. Snow did fly some combat air patrols, but never fired on American military units or civilian targets. She's also a hell of a pilot, survived six engagements with Gigan. That's gotta count for something."

Blade folded his arms, the corners of his mouth twisting. "I guess I will give her props for coming away with her ass in one piece. A lot of other pilots didn't . . . like Burner." His shoulders sagged.

An emptiness formed in Yamagata's stomach as he thought of the flaming wreckage of "Burner" Ashby's Excalibur tumbling out of the Florida sky.

He drew a breath. "I'm just asking you to be a good teammate, Blade."

"I always am. Let's just hope Captain Snow is, too."

Yamagata stared at his friend. _Yeah, let's hope._

**XXXXX**

After changing out of his flightsuit, Yamagata ate a couple of lukewarm hamburgers at the mess hall, then checked in with the signals intelligence office to see if his girlfriend had arrived.

"Sorry, sir," an airman told him. "We're not expecting Captain Fox until tomorrow."

Yamagata nodded, keeping his face tight to hide his disappointment. He hadn't seen Nicole in the flesh in ten months. They'd Skyped each other several times, texted or called one another. It was a poor substitute for having her beside him, holding her, being in bed with her.

He went to his Bachelor Officers Quarters, stood in the middle of the living room and looked around. Like most BOQs, it wasn't very big and had bland, government-issue furniture. Still, it was his place.

Yamagata walked over to the cluster of framed photos on the wall. One showed him standing next to an MF-3 Excalibur, a flightsuit hugging lean 5'9 frame and aviator shades adorning his round face. Next to it was another photo, this one black and white, featuring a serious-looking Japanese man in an old Army dress uniform. Corporal Jiro Yamagata, who served with the famed 442nd Regimental Combat Team of Japanese-Americans during World War II.

He nodded at the image of his great-grandfather, then tapped the frame with his fist. After unpacking, Yamagata sat on the sofa with his iPad. He needed to set up tomorrow's training schedule, and make it as intense as possible. He and Blade hadn't flown together for nearly a year, and neither of them had flown with "Winter" Snow. Yamagata wanted them to become a cohesive fighting unit as quickly as possible.

_Hopefully Blade's attitude won't make that difficult. _He wasn't surprised by his friend's reaction to Captain Snow's presence. Along with losing Ashby and his crew, Blade's weapons officer Dennis "Menace" Anderson died when thugs from Zamora's Civilian Emergency Mobilization Corps assaulted the base. Add to it spending time in a CEMCOR detention camp and Blade had plenty of reasons to dislike anyone who didn't oppose the power-mad ex-president.

_Am I doing the right thing? _He lowered his iPad and stared at the wall. This wasn't the first time he'd doubted his decision to select Winter for the 1st JSCS. He should have picked her solely on her skills as a pilot, not to make some statement to help bring people together.

A dark chill went through him. What if his decision poisoned unit cohesion? What if it got people killed?

A knock at the door interrupted his thoughts. He set the iPad on the sofa, walked across the living room and opened the door. His eyes widened when he saw the slender woman with pinned up dark hair and black horn-rimmed glasses standing in front of him.

"Miss me?" Captain Nicole Fox grinned at him.

Yamagata didn't answer with words. He just pulled her inside and kissed her long and deep.

**XXXXX**

"And here I thought I'd have to wait until tomorrow for a reunion like this." Yamagata slowly ran his fingers up and down Nicole's back as she laid on top of him, twisted, sweaty sheets wrapped around their naked bodies.

"What can I say? I wanted to surprise you."

"I tell you what really would have been a great surprise."

"What?"

"If you'd shown up in a nighty and carrying a six pack." Yamagata grinned.

Nicole giggled. "Maybe next time." She kissed his chest, then his neck, then his mouth.

He rolled her on her back. They kissed, caressed and made love again. After a shared shower, Yamagata went to his closet and took out his khaki Service "B" uniform.

"Um, I don't think those are the appropriate clothes to wear to bed," said Nicole, who leaned against the doorway of the bathroom, a towel wrapped around her torso. "Actually, we shouldn't be wearing _any_ clothes to bed."

Yamagata smiled at her. "We're taking a break so I can take you to dinner."

"Well, if you're going to wear that I doubt you're taking me to Burger King."

"I was thinking more along the lines of Trepinino's." Yamagata referred to an Italian restaurant a couple of miles from the base.

"Ooh." Nicole's mouth formed a perfect "O". "How romantic. I better find something nice to wear and -"

A quick _beep-beep-beep _came from Yamagata's cell phone. He hurried over to the nightstand. That particular tone meant the message came from the 1st JSCS operations center.

He grabbed the phone and checked the screen. His entire body tensed.

"What is it?" asked Nicole.

Yamagata turned to her. "Looks like dinner plans are on hold. There's been a kaiju attack on Guam."

_**TO BE CONTINUED**_

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **_The characters in this chapter previously appeared in my fanfic "Godzilla vs. Gigan: Dawn of the Tyrant."_


	3. Chapter 3

_GAMERA EARTH_

* * *

"Rita . . ." Rice glanced at the other sailors and Marines using the computers in the _Reagan's _library. He leaned closer to his screen, lowering his voice. "This just popped up. You know these things happen."

"They always seem to happen." His wife looked away for a moment. "I thought things would calm down after Korea. I thought you'd be home more."

"You know what this job's like. You even accepted the fact I'd be gone months at a time."

"That was before I got pregnant." Rita's voice went up an octave. "I want _us_ to raise this baby, together. Not you to be there for a few weeks, then be gone for a few months."

"I want that, too," said Rice.

"And how can you do that if the Navy keeps sending you all over the world. What if . . ." Rita's lips trembled. Even on the screen, he could tell she was tearing up. "What if something happens to you?"

Rice took a slow breath, trying to think of what to say to reassure her. His mind drew a blank. He gripped the top of the screen. "Look, hopefully this'll be wrapped up soon, and I'll be home, and . . . and we can figure this out."

A sharp breath shot out of Rita's nose. She crossed her arms and looked down.

Rice checked the clock at the bottom corner of the screen. It was almost time to meet up with Admiral Breeden. "I'm sorry, but I gotta go. Like I said, we'll talk when I get home."

"Mm-hmm." Rita nodded, not looking at him.

"I love you."

This time, she did look at him. "I love you, too."

Rice ended the Skype chat. He remained seated, staring at the blank screen. Rita's words echoed in his mind, how she wanted them to raise their child together. He didn't want to be some guy who showed up out of the blue, had to remind the kid he really was his – or her - father, then get whisked off to only God knew where.

_Like that'll be possible in this job. _Being a SEAL, hell, just being in the military, put all sorts of stress on families that most civilians couldn't imagine. A flicker of fear went through his gut. The divorce rate among Navy SEALs was around ninety percent. He didn't want to be part of that statistic.

_But if Rita's raising our child by herself while I'm in different parts of the world most of the year . . ._

Rice pushed himself up from the desk and walked away. A Navy lieutenant took his place, with three more officers behind him.

Stopping at the hatch, Rice closed his eyes, burying his worries about Rita. _Head in the game, Jim. Head in the game._

He hustled up the ladders to the island, and the entrance to the flight deck. Admiral Breeden arrived a couple of minutes later.

"Thanks again for the invite, sir. I don't know how much help I'm gonna be."

"Commander, I doubt there's another person in the Armed Forces who knows more about monsters than you. Hell, you had a . . . mindmeld with Gamera during the Second Korean War." Breeden took a step outside, then stopped and turned back to Rice. "Are you still in touch with that big turtle?"

"I wish." He felt the pendant under his Service Khaki tunic. "Cold to the touch. If I could feel Gamera's mind, this would be heating up."

Breeden frowned briefly. "Maybe we'll get lucky and it'll heat up."

"I hope so, sir." Rice was surprised that Gamera hadn't already appeared. He had been created by an ancient civilization to battle monsters like Gyaos.

Rice and the admiral strode across the deck. The whine of spooling jet engines surrounded them. They ducked as they neared a Seahawk, its rotors spinning. A few minutes after boarding the helicopter, it lifted off into the orange-blue morning sky and soared over the Pacific toward Japan.

It took thirty-five minutes for them to reach Tokyo. Rice looked out the window as they flew over the Shinjuku ward. Hundreds of buildings, large and small, were crammed together. Vehicles packed the streets.

_And I thought traffic in San Diego was bad._

The Seahawk landed on the helipad near a cluster of tall, rectangular buildings that housed Japan's Ministry of Defense. A female Self-Defense Force private met him and Admiral Breeden and escorted them inside. She led them to a horseshoe-shaped auditorium with twelve rows of seating and a high ceiling. Rice scanned the men and women in the first two rows. Most of them were middle-aged and outranked him. The majority represented the Japanese Self-Defense Forces and the U.S. Armed Forces. The rest came from Australia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Russia, China and Taiwan.

_Looks like we've got ourselves a multi-national coalition._

Rice noticed the Chinese and Taiwanese contingents sat on opposite ends of the auditorium. A few American officers gave their Russian and Chinese counterparts wary looks.

_Let's just hope this damn thing doesn't fall apart before we kill those damn monsters._

He and Breeden sat with the other American officers. Rice saw a pair of headphones plugged into an outlet in his chair. Probably for translation purposes.

A few more Japanese and American officers entered the auditorium, along with a pair of Japanese civilians. The man wore large glasses and a dark suit and didn't smile.

Rice's brow furrowed as he stared at the other civilian, a lithe woman with long black hair and a smooth, pretty face. He stood up as she approached his row.

"Dr. Nagamine."

Dr. Mayumi Nagamine looked at him, her eyes widening in surprise. "Lieutenant Commander Rice. It is good to see you again."

She bowed, as did he.

"How are you feeling?" asked Nagamine. "Last time I saw you was in hospital."

"Certainly much better than I was back then," answered Rice. "And I see you've picked up some English since then."

"Gyaos is an international threat. I thought it be good to learn. Still learning it." She turned to the man. "Let me introduce Mr. Saito of National Public Safety Commission. He is in charge of incidents involving monsters."

Saito bowed to him, but didn't say anything. Rice figured the guy didn't speak English.

Nagamine bit her lip. "Have . . . have you felt Gamera since the Gyaos returned?" There was a hopeful note in her voice.

Rice shook his head. "I wish. We sure could use him right now."

Nagamine nodded. Saito then said something in Japanese, to which the she replied, _"Hai."_

Saito strode toward the stage.

_Looks like we're about to get started. _Rice sat back down, Nagamine taking the seat next to him. He glanced over at her, admiring the delicate beauty of her face.

_Damn, if I wasn't married . . . _He sighed to himself, thinking of his Skype chat with Rita. He wondered if the longer he stayed in the Navy, the greater the chance he wouldn't remain a married man.

Saito stood at the dais, arms raised. He said something in Japanese. An accented voice in Rice's headphones translated it moments later. "Attention. We are ready to begin."

Numerous individual conversations died down. Saito introduced himself, then the others around the auditorium. Most of them, at any rate. Rice's name hadn't been mentioned.

_What's a lowly lieutenant commander in a room full of admirals and generals? _Not that it bothered him. SEALs preferred anonymity.

"You've all been called to this meeting because your countries, like Japan, have been attacked by this new Gyaos swarm," Saito told them. "The Prime Minister, along with the leaders of your individual nations, have agreed on an international response to deal with this threat."

Saito ran down all the recent attacks throughout the Pacific, with still photos and videos being shown on the screen behind him. He also noted how every attack had the monsters carrying off vans, buses, train cars, boats, small passenger planes, anything that might contain groups of people.

"Sounds like they're gathering food," said an Australian air force general. "And unfortunately, we're on the menu."

Saito nodded. "That is what we believe. Luckily, we have discovered what appears to be their nest."

He tapped a remote. The screen showed a satellite image of an island shaped like a deformed teardrop. A bulge protruded from its southern end. Rice tilted his head. Something about that island looked familiar.

Saito tapped the remote again. Three red circles appeared on different parts of the island. Within them were clusters of winged creatures.

Gyaos.

"This image was taken about ninety minutes ago," said Saito. "Many of you who study history may be familiar with this island. Iwo Jima."

Rice's eyes locked on the image, the famous picture of the Marines raising the flag atop Mount Suribachi popping into his head. He glanced at the other American officers. They sat much straighter, gazes aimed at the screen. Curious, Rice looked at the Japanese officers. They all stared ahead with stoic expressions.

"The Self-Defense Forces maintain a small base on the island," Saito continued. "All attempts to contact them have failed."

A green circle highlighted the northern part of the island. Rice saw an airstrip with dark clouds floating over it. He gritted his teeth, wondering if any of the base personnel survived.

More circles appeared across the island, blue in color. "We have also found the remains of the vehicles, boats and planes taken by the Gyaos. Initial analysis has not found any survivors."

"They could be stockpiling food," said Nagamine. "Not for themselves, but if this is their nest, it could be for their young."

Officers turned to each other, some looking shocked, others horrified. Several chattered in hushed, urgent voices. Rice let out a slow breath. Bad enough they had a couple hundred Gyaos to deal with. How much more death and destruction would hundreds more cause?

"Now," Saito's sharp voice cut through the numerous conversations. Quiet settled throughout the auditorium. "We must decide on the best course of action to eliminate the Gyaos."

"What of the new weapon you used over Tokyo?" asked a general from China's People's Liberation Army. "My government wishes to know more about it."

"As does mine," said a Russian admiral. "The power of this weapon is causing my superiors in Moscow . . . concern."

Saito slowly scanned the officers before him. His face stiffened. "The weapon used over Tokyo is an advanced particle beam that has been in development since the first Gyaos attack. Using missiles and shells against these creatures in populated area increase the risk of civilian casualties. The government wanted a weapon that could defeat the Gyaos and not result in collateral damage."

"Will the Japanese government share this technology to ensure other countries can protect themselves against the Gyaos?" asked the Chinese general.

"What assurances do we have that this weapon will be used solely against the Gyaos and not against other nations?" A Taiwanese navy admiral aimed a suspicious glance at the Chinese general.

"Gentleman, gentleman." Saito raised his hands. "This is the sort of thing that can be worked out by our respective foreign ministries. For now, we must concentrate on the threat posed by the Gyaos."

Silence hung over the auditorium for several seconds. It was finally broken by a U.S. Air Force general. "I say we just bomb them off the face of the Earth."

"They may not work," Nagamine informed him. "During the first Gyaos crisis, I found the remains of their hatchlings in a cave. Iwo Jima has a large network of caves and tunnels. They could be deep underground."

"Then we'll use our bunker busters. They can penetrate up to twenty feet of solid earth."

Nagamine shook her head. "It still does not guarantee you can kill them all."

"Perhaps if we use nuclear weapons instead," suggested the Russian admiral.

Many of the Japanese officers scowled at the chubby, silver-haired man.

"No." Saito chopped a hand across the air. "Government policy is that Japan will not permit nuclear weapons on its soil, even in a situation like this."

"Then it looks like our only choice is to use conventional weapons," said a Filipino navy admiral. "We will have to rely on a massive bombardment to kill the Gyaos."

"The U.S. Navy conducted a massive bombardment of Iwo Jima during World War Two," Admiral Breeden pointed out. "But tens of thousands of Japanese soldiers survived in those caves. The same will likely be true for the Gyaos."

"Then we need to pinpoint where they are so we don't waste any ordnance."

All eyes turned toward Rice. Some of the men and women looked aghast, like a mere lieutenant commander shouldn't speak in the presence of all this brass.

_Screw 'em if that's what they think._

"And you are?" demanded the Russian admiral.

"Lieutenant Commander Rice, U.S. Navy. The only way we're going to learn the exact location of the Gyaos, and whether or not they have any young, is to have someone go to Iwo Jima and recon it."

"And you are volunteering for this?" asked the PLA general.

"I have five other Navy SEALs back on the _USS Reagan. _We can infiltrate the island, mark the Gyaos's positions, and then you can take 'em out."

"Can such a mission succeed?" asked an Indonesian air force general. "There must be well over a hundred Gyaos on that island."

"This is the sort of mission SEALs are trained to do, the only difference is we're dealing with monsters and not humans. If everything goes well, we go in, recon the island, then get out before the Gyaos even know we're there."

"And what happens if the Gyaos find out you're there?" asked the Australian air force general.

Rice shrugged. "Then we get the hell out of Dodge, and we leave a lot of dead monsters behind."

"How do you intend to get onto Iwo Jima?" asked Saito.

"Airborne insertion's out. We'd just be finger food on a parachute for those damn monsters. We can infiltrate by sub."

Saito clutched the sides of the dais, staring down, face tightened in thought. Several long seconds passed before he looked up. "I will approve it, if your admiral does not object."

Breeden shook his head. "Commander Rice and his men are some of the best we have, and they have experience dealing with monsters during the Second Korean War."

"Very well." Saito nodded.

"I would like to go with Commander Rice to Iwo Jima." Nagamine raised her hand.

"Sorry." Rice turned to her. "Out of the question."

"Why?" She snapped toward him. "Because I'm a woman?"

"Because you're an untrained civilian."

"Who happens to know more about the Gyaos than anyone here."

"Yes, you do. But I have no idea what your physical and mental limits are. I have no idea how you'll react in a life or death situation. No offense, but one mistake by you and we could all end up dead."

"Iwo Jima is a Japanese possession," said Saito. "A representative from our country should accompany your group. As Dr. Nagamine said, she is the world's leading expert on the Gyaos. Therefore, she will be part of your mission."

Rice glared at Saito. He grunted, then said flatly, "Yes, sir."

The briefing lasted another twenty minutes, much of it consisting of the logistics of Rice's mission. As the officers started to get up, an unsmiling Nagamine looked Rice in the face.

"Do not worry, Commander. I will not get you or your men killed. In fact, I may have ways to help you survive."

Rice locked eyes with the scientist, noting the determination in her dark orbs. "Well, here's hoping."

_**TO BE CONTINUED**_


	4. Chapter 4

_GODZILLA EARTH_

* * *

"Man, they did a number on this place."

Yamagata looked over at McGovern, who stared out the cockpit window of their MF-3 Excalibur. "I couldn't agree with you more, Gov."

They flew over the northern tip of Guam. Below, charred remains of buildings and planes littered Anderson Air Force Base. To the south, entire sections of the municipality of Yigo lay shattered and burning.

"Royal Palace, Beastmaster One," Yamagata radioed Joint Base Richard-Gebaur.

"Royal Palace. Go, One."

"Are you receiving our footage?"

"Footage coming through five-by-five. Request you make another pass over the base and the city for good measure."

"Copy, Royal Palace."

Yamagata circled the area again, as did Blade and Winter, who trailed him in their Excaliburs. Their cameras transmitted the destruction back to "Dickey-Goober" for the analysts to go over.

"Caputo," Yamagata called over his shoulder. "Any sign those monsters are still around?"

A few seconds passed before the sensor operator replied, "Nothing on radar, lidar or thermal. Guam airspace is currently _Oniuingu _free."

"Copy that." _Oniuingu _had been what the 1st JSCS analysts designated the flying monsters after viewing images of the attack broadcast by Guam's Channel 8. The name was a combination of the Japanese words "demon" and "wing." Yamagata recalled the footage he'd seen of the _Oniuingu _attack on the small Pacific island. The name felt appropriate. They did look like flying demons.

He looked back down at the rubble of Anderson Air Force Base and Yigo, thought of the dead and wounded.

_The damn things act like demons, too._

"Beastmaster," said Royal Palace. "Squadron intel says they have enough footage. Proceed to Point Gilligan."

"Roger, proceeding to Point Gilligan."

Yamagata swung the Excalibur to the southeast, taking one last look back at Guam. Guilt scratched at him. He wished they could go down there and help. Thankfully, the U.S. naval base came through the attack unscathed. The Air Force also flew in disaster relief personnel and supplies from Hickam Field in Hawaii. The island's residents would be taken care of.

The blue waters of the Pacific stretched before Yamagata. He switched on the auto pilot, stretched, and settled back in his ejection seat. It would take roughly an hour and fifteen minutes to reach Chuuk Atoll, or Point Gilligan. He let out a brief chuckle.

"What?" asked McGovern.

"Just thinking. Point Gilligan. Someone back at base has a nostalgic sense of humor."

"Sense of humor my ass. Chuuk Atoll? You have to take a boat from there just to get to the middle of nowhere."

Yamagata shrugged. "General Torrez said it's a good strategic location to respond to any more _Oniuingu _attacks."

"I think the general could have sent us to a real tropical paradise, like Tahiti. And here I thought he was a good guy."

Yamagata cracked a smile. Despite not sending them to Tahiti, he had a lot of respect for General Torrez. The squadron's new commanding officer was smart, affable, and listened to the men under him. A vast improvement over the 1st JSCS's previous CO, General Griffin. Then again, considering Griffin sold them out to President Zamora's thugs to save his sorry ass, General Custer would have been a vast improvement over him.

Yamagata's stomach grumbled. He checked the chronometer in his helmet mounted display. Still about an hour before they reached Chuuk. He unzipped his breast pocket and dug inside for a granola bar. Hopefully that would tide him over until they –

"Beastmaster One, Royal Palace." An urgent voice burst from his headphones.

"One. Go."

"We have a change in mission objective. A Philippines Airlines flight to Hawaii spotted Rodan over the Philippine Sea, six hundred eighty miles east of Luzon, heading south." Royal Palace rattled off a set of GPS coordinates.

Yamagata checked the Excalibur's fuel status in his HMD. "This is going to use up most of the fuel in our droptanks."

"Understood, One. We're arranging a rendezvous with an Australian KC-30 tanker for you."

"Much obliged, Royal Palace. Beastmaster, flight of three, changing course for Philippine Sea."

The three Excaliburs wheeled around and rocketed northwest.

"Damn, first these _Oniuingu, _now Rodan?" Winter radioed. "This can't be coincidence."

"Think they could all be related?" asked McGovern.

Yamagata scrunched his face in thought. "I doubt it. Their body types don't match. Plus, you saw the footage from Guam at the briefing. Those _Oniuingu _can fire lasers from their mouths. Rodan can't."

McGovern shrugged. "Maybe this is, like, the next stage in Rodan's evolution."

Yamagata said nothing, just silently mulled over Gov's theory. He hoped his WSO was wrong. Rodan was dangerous enough as is. He didn't want to imagine the sort of death and destruction a new generation with lasers could inflict on the world.

Forty minutes later, the Excaliburs met up with the KC-30 and topped off their tanks without any serious problems. Calculating the course and estimated speed of Rodan from its last sighting, Yamagata set a course for north of the Moluccas Islands, one of the numerous islands that made up Indonesia. They should be able to intercept the giant bird there.

_Hopefully. _

The three jets raced over the Pacific. Yamagata's eyes swept over the clear blue sky, looking for any sign of Rodan. Nothing.

The brown-green dots of the Moluccas Islands soon appeared off his port side. The Excaliburs circled the area a few times, everyone scanning the sky with both eyeballs and sensors. No sign of Rodan.

They flew over the Molucca Sea without any luck. Yamagata contacted Indonesian National Air Defense Command. They had no reports of Rodan sightings.

Yamagata clenched his teeth. Did they miss the damn thing? And if they were busy flying all over Indonesia looking for Rodan, would that leave the _Oniuingu _free to attack somewhere else?

He tried to beat down his frustration and concentrate on the mission. The sooner they found and dealt with Rodan, the sooner –

"I'm picking up a large contact on lidar," blurted Caputo. "Sixty miles to the northeast. It's gotta be Rodan."

"Copy. Beastmasters, on me," Yamagata ordered.

The three jets banked right. They flew over a few tiny islands, entering the Celebes Sea.

"Tally on the kaiju," Blade announced. "Starboard, angels forty."

Yamagata looked to the right, then up. A large, brown shape soared across the sky at 40,000 feet. His heartbeat picked up as he noticed the stubby neck, the yellow beak, the two curved horns and the triangular wings.

"Positive ID," he told the others. "It's Rodan."

"My God," Winter stammered. "I can't believe how huge that thing is."

"Welcome to the wonderful world of monster hunting," replied Yamagata. "All right, Beastmasters, we hit him with Sunstrokes first." He referred to the Excaliburs' plasma yield missiles. "If they don't work, we climb to angels fifty and -"

"New contacts!" shouted Blade. "Six kaiju, port side, angels thirty!"

Yamagata rose a few inches in his ejection seat and looked down. Six winged creatures flew in tight formation over the water.

"New kaiju confirmed," he said. "They're _Oniuingu."_

His breathing quickened. Now they were outnumbered over two-to-one.

As one, the _Oniuingu _rose, flying toward Rodan. The enormous reptilian bird dove at the smaller creatures.

"Looks like they're having a little get together," noted McGovern. "Maybe they are related."

"Well, this is gonna be a very short reunion," said Yamagata. "Beastmasters Two and Three, you deal with the _Oniuingu. _I'll take Rodan."

Both Blade and Winter responded with double-clicks on their radios.

Yamagata banked right, keeping the Excalibur's nose pointed at Rodan. The other two jets swung right and dove on the _Oniuingu. _

"Gov, you have Sunstrokes."

"I have Sunstrokes." He tapped the multi-functional display on the console. "Weapons bay open . . . selecting three Sunstrokes."

Yamagata's eyes flickered between the monsters. The distance between them closed rapidly.

"I have tone," McGovern reported.

"Weapons free." Yamagata saw two of the _Oniuingu _open their mouths wide. Were they calling to Rodan? Or could it be –

Lasers shot from the _Oniuingu's _mouths. One beam missed. The other clipped Rodan's shoulder. The monster jerked and rolled to the right.

"Holy shit!" blurted McGovern.

The _Oniuingu _fired again. All their beams missed. Rodan righted itself. Its beak opened in what Yamagata assumed was a roar. The beast flew straight at the _Oniuingu._

"Beastmasters!" Yamagata yelled. "Abort! Abort!"

He pulled back on the stick. Rodan dove under another barrage of lasers.

"Form up at angels forty-five." Yamagata clenched his gut as the g-forces piled on him like invisible weights. "Holding pattern."

A pair of double clicks came over his headphones.

They leveled out at 45,000 feet and flew in a racetrack pattern. Yamagata looked down. Rodan arced around, going for the _Oniuingu _again. The smaller flying monsters spat out lasers. One beam glanced off Rodan's left horn. It continued toward them.

"Ninja," said Winter. "Aren't we supposed to be blowing the crap out of these bastards?"

"Let 'em fight. We'll wait until they whittle themselves down, then pick off the survivors."

"Have 'em do the dirty work for us," said Blade. "I like it."

"Just make sure all cameras and sensors are picking this up. The intel weenies will want to dissect it."

Yamagata circled the monsters, eyes darting from straight ahead to the battle below.

Rodan flew over one of the _Oniuingu. _The hurricane-like winds generated by its wings sent the smaller creature tumbling end over end.

Rodan swung back, heading right for the out of control _Oniuingu. _Two others spat laser beams. One struck Rodan in the back. Smoke rose from its thick hide. The flying kaiju didn't waver. Yamagata held his breath, waiting for the collision.

Rodan snapped its jaws down around the _Oniuingu's _neck. A cloud of blood exploded around both monsters. Rodan whipped his prey back and forth. It then let go. The limp _Oniuingu _fell toward the Celebes Sea.

Two more beams struck Rodan's back. It dropped several hundred feet, flapped its wings and turned back on its attackers. The five remaining _Oniuingu _dove at Rodan. They shot more beams. One glanced off Rodan's right wing. It dipped to the side, leveled out and charged the _Oniuingu_.

They fired again. Rodan dodged the beams. The smaller monsters scattered as the larger winged kaiju plunged into their formation.

One _Oniuingu _wasn't fast enough. Rodan slashed with its talons. Blood sprayed from huge gashes in the _Oniuingu's _shoulder. Torn flesh flapped along its right wing.

Rodan swung around. Its talons ripped into the _Oniuingu's _neck and back. The smaller monster jerked back, then went limp and dropped from the sky.

"Yeah!" McGovern pumped his fist. "Two down. Keep goin', big guy."

Yamagata looked at his WSO. "You do know if Rodan wins, we still have to fight him."

McGovern hung his head a bit. "Crap. Makes it hard to root for anyone, doesn't it?"

Yamagata grunted. At least if Rodan won, they would only have to fight one monster instead of several. Still, that monster would be Rodan, and even seriously injured, it would be hard to defeat.

_It's like asking which you'd rather be in, an earthquake or a hurricane._

Rodan slashed at another _Oniuingu_, missing. The larger kaiju came round for another attack.

Three beams sliced through the sky. All three tore through Rodan's right wing. The monster went into spasms. More beams blasted through the wing. Rodan's head shook, its beak wide open. Yamagata imagined the kaiju unleashing a piercing, squealing roar of agony.

Three more beams exploded against Rodan's chest. The monster pitched over and spiraled toward the sea, trailing smoke.

Yamagata's jaw tightened, waiting to see if Rodan recovered.

It didn't. It kept falling, falling.

He looked back at the four _Oniuingu _and drew a breath.

"Okay, Beastmasters. It's showtime."

_**TO BE CONTINUED**_


	5. Chapter 5

Yamagata shoved the stick forward. An electric jolt of adrenaline shot through his veins as the MF-3 Excalibur went into a dive. Blade's and Winter's jets kept pace on either side of him. Below, the four _Oniuingu _wheeled around and soared higher into the sky.

"Gov, you have weps."

"I have weps," the WSO said. "Caputo, integrate all targeting systems."

A couple of seconds passed before the sensor operator replied, "Targeting systems integrated. Targets designated Oscar One through Four."

A 3D image appeared in Yamagata's visor. Small digital boxes settled over the _Oniuingu. _The word LOCKED appeared in red multiple times around the creatures.

"Weapons free," said McGovern. "Fire. Fire. Fire."

Contrails raced away from the three Excaliburs_. _Yamagata sucked in a deep breath and held it, watching the Sunstroke missiles close with the reptilian birds.

Their mouths opened wide.

"Evasive maneuvers!"

Yamagata banked left. He clenched his teeth as the g-forces pressed down on his body. He jinked right, then left. Lasers zipped past him. His eyes darted around the sky. He caught glimpses of Blade's and Winter's jets, the white puffy lines from the missiles, and the monster birds.

Another laser shot past, missing his Excalibur by a few feet. Yamagata threw the plane into a hard left, then swung right. An invisible anvil pressed into his chest.

He checked the targeting scopes. McGovern and the WSOs on the other Excaliburs struggled to keep the laser designators pointed at the _Oniuingu. _Six missile tracks remained. Anger flashed through Yamagata. The damned monsters had shot down half their Sunstrokes.

A brilliant ball of white light erupted in the sky. Charred pieces of flesh fell toward the Pacific Ocean.

"Oscar Three destroyed," announced Lieutenant (jg) Duane Norris, Blade's new WSO. "Oscar Three destroyed."

Yamagata banked again, scanning the sky for more explosions. His face scrunched in frustration when he saw none.

An _Oniuingu _flew past his nose less than forty feet away. It vanished from sight.

"Shit." A stab of fear went through Yamagata. He didn't want that monster on his tail. A laser blast up the tailpipe had knocked his old Excalibur out of the sky during the Battle of Miami.

He swung the jet around. The _Oniuingu _made a sharp turn to the left.

Toward Blade's jet.

"Blade," Yamagata warned the Navy pilot. "Kaiju on your six. Break. Break."

Blade's Excalibur rolled left. A beam from the _Oniuingu _cut through the air near the jet.

"I've got weps," Yamagata told McGovern.

"You've got weps."

Yamagata activated the freeze ray and veered toward the _Oniuingu. _The monster unleashed another beam at Blade's plane. It missed.

"Someone get this SOB off me." Blade jinked left and right.

"I'm on it." Yamagata pointed the Excalibur's nose at the flying monster. The crosshairs slewed across his HMD. He eyed Blade's jet, then the creature pursuing it. The _Oniuingu's _maw opened wide. Yamagata's throat tightened as the air around the monster's mouth shimmered.

The crosshairs settled over the _Oniuingu_. Yamagata's thumb mashed the fire button. A white beam flashed across the sky and struck the monster. Thick frost spread over its body. It hung still in the air for a moment, encased in ice. The frozen beast then tumbled end over end toward the water.

_Two down, two to –_

Something pounded the side of the Excalibur. The entire jet shook. Terror flared within Yamagata.

"What the hell?" The aircraft leveled out. He pulled back the stick. The Excalibur rose, then banked right. Yamagata caught another yellow flash out the corner of his eye. An _Oniuingu _beam missed.

"Caputo. Any damaged." He rolled the plane left, the engine screaming with a banshee-like cry.

"Minimal hull damage. All systems fully operational."

Yamagata let out a quick breath of relief and swung the Excalibur left. He thanked God for the jet's titanium alloy/artificial diamond hull. Had he been in any other aircraft, his ashes would be falling over the Pacific right now.

Another _Oniuingu _turned toward him. Yamagata rolled the Excalibur onto its back and went into an inverted dive. G-forces pressed against his chest. He clenched his gut, grunted, and turned the plane back onto its belly. He then pulled back on the stick and leveled out, finishing the Split S maneuver.

"Tally on the kaiju!" McGovern hollered. "Two o'clock high."

Yamagata snapped his head right. The _Oniuingu _circled above, its diamond-shaped head pointing down at them.

Yamagata brought up the Excalibur's nose. He rocketed toward the monster at an angle, trying to stay out of its field of fire.

The _Oniuingu _swung back toward him. Yamagata fired the Excalibur's particle beams. Two blue rays streaked past the monster. It banked to the left, large belly exposed to Yamagata.

His eyes widened at the inviting target. He mashed the fire button again. Two sliced through the _Oniuingu's _torso. It went into spasms. Yamagata fired again. Two more large, smoking holes appeared in the creature's stomach. It went limp and dropped from the sky.

"Winter!" Blade hollered over the radio. "Kaiju at your ten o'clock!

Yamagata's eyes swept across the sky. He spotted Captain Snow's Excalibur arcing its way to the south. An _Oniuingu _dove on it. Horror gripped him as a beam shot from the monster's mouth. A yellow flash enveloped the jet.

"Winter!" he blurted.

"I'm here. I'm fine."

Yamagata quickly surveyed the Excalibur. He saw no visible damage.

"Hang on, Winter. We're coming."

"Relax, Ninja. I got this."

The _Oniuingu _dropped in behind Winter's jet. She banked right just as a beam whizzed past her. The Excalibur continued to fly in an arc. Its air speed bled off. Yamagata's stomach turned to lead as the monster drew closer to Winter. He rocketed across the sky, readying the freeze ray.

Winter dove. A beam streaked past her jet. She rolled just as the _Oniuingu_ soared over her Excalibur.

Now Winter was on its tail.

"Suck it, asshole."

Tracers from the GAU-8 cannons spat from Winter's plane. The 30mm uranium depleted rounds tore into the _Oniuingu's _flesh. It arched its back and shuddered. Another line of tracers ripped into the monster's neck. A cloud of blood exploded around its head and shoulders. The _Oniuingu _spiraled toward the ocean.

Yamagata let out a long, relieved breath. For the first time, he felt the sweat that soaked his entire body.

"Good shooting, Winter," he said.

"Thanks. Told you I got this."

Yamagata stayed silent, wondering if Blade would pay her a similar compliment.

He didn't.

"Well that was easier than usual," said McGovern.

"You got that right." Yamagata nodded. More often than not, they came close to depleting their ordnance whenever they went up against a kaiju. If they were lucky, all their firepower forced the beast to retreat from whatever city it was attacking.

"Royal Palace, Beastmaster One," he radioed the base. "Scratch four _Oniuingu_. Repeat, scratch four _Oniuingu_."

"Roger, One. What's Rodan's status?"

"Unknown. We haven't seen him since he went in the drink."

"Is he dead?"

"I can't say for sure," Yamagata replied, "but I doubt it. Rodan's one tough kaiju. My guess is he's licking his wounds."

"Roger, One."

A different voice came over the radio. "Beastmaster One, Royal Palace Actual."

It was General Torrez.

"One. Go," said Yamagata.

"You are to proceed to Atienza Air Base in Manila Bay to refuel and await further orders. We're sending you an updated flight plan now."

"Understood, Actual."

Seconds later, a map of the Philippines appeared in Yamagata's HMD. A line cut across the Philippine Sea and down the island of Luzon to Manila in the southwest. Several blue circles dotted the northern portion of the country. Alternate landing sites in the event of an emergency.

"New flight plan received. We are changing course to The Philippines."

"Roger, One. Royal Palace Actual, out."

The three Excaliburs turned southwest. Yamagata switched on the autopilot and slumped in his seat. His muscles unwound. He shut his eyes, grateful they were all alive.

The urge to sleep washed over him. Yamagata forced his eyes open. He flipped up his visor and pulled out a water bottle, downing half of it. He then removed two energy bars from his flight suit and wolfed them down. Feeling recharged, he scanned the air around him, then checked the rear camera feed. All clear. Still . . .

"Beastmasters," he radioed the others. "Stay alert. There might be more _Oniuingu _out there."

"So what if there are?" quipped McGovern. "They weren't so tough."

Brief chuckles filtered through the radio. Even Yamagata laughed. What the hell. They needed to lighten the mood after another furious battle between humans and kaiju.

He periodically checked the sky, but spotted no more _Oniuingu. _Inevitably, his mind wandered. He thought about his family in Washington State, and Nicole. He would still be able to see them again.

Yamagata also wondered about these new kaiju. Where had they come from? How many were out there? A handful? Hundreds? Thousands?

His jaw clenched. He had a bad feeling they weren't done with the _Oniuingu _just yet.

The coastline of Luzon grew before Yamagata when General Torrez radioed him again.

"Beastmaster One, Royal Palace Actual."

"Go, Actual."

"You have new orders. You are to remain at Atienza Air Base. Support personnel will be en route shortly. Atienza will be our staging area for anti-_Oniuingu _operations."

"I take it you found more of them," said Yamagata.

"Affirmative," replied Torrez.

"Where are they?"

"You'll appreciate this as a Marine. Iwo Jima."

_**TO BE CONTINUED**_


	6. Chapter 6

_GAMERA EARTH_

* * *

_Maybe she can help us get off that island alive._

Rice stared at the two open cases on the table. Each contained four black objects that resembled camera lenses. They were, in fact, portable strobe lights Dr. Nagamine obtained before they left Japan. Gyaos were susceptible to bright light, and these strobes, as well as the flares she brought with her, might distract the monsters long enough for them to get away.

While he appreciated Nagamine's contributions to their arsenal, Rice still didn't feel comfortable bringing her to Iwo Jima. She looked in pretty good shape, but could she keep up if they had to hike for an extended period? He also had no idea if she'd keep her head if they had a couple dozen Gyaos after them.

He looked around the small crew mess, where his SEALs conducted their last minute equipment checks. Nagamine stood by a table across from him. Like Rice and his men, she wore a beige-olive-brown pixilated MARPAT uniform and boonie hat. Her lips were pressed in a tight line. Her shoulders rose and fell with quicker breaths than normal as she looked over her video camera.

_She's nervous, _thought again, who wouldn't be going to an island full of giant carnivorous birds?

After the SEALs checked their weapons and gear, Nagamine gave them the strobes and flares. They had familiarized themselves with both pieces of equipment shortly after boarding the Japanese submarine _Kuroshio. _

_We're as ready as we're going to be._

Rice and the others were going over the latest satellite imagery of Iwo Jima when the captain's voice came over the 1-MC in first Japanese, then English.

"Attention crew. Prepare to surface. SEAL team to the forward hatch."

"Showtime, boys." Rice grabbed his pack, then looked over at Nagamine. "And lady."

The doctor nodded, her lips still pressed together.

The group walked through the narrow corridors of the Oyashio-class attack submarine. The boat was much smaller than the Los Angeles-class and Virginia-class subs Rice was used to. Loaded with packs and weapons, the SEALs had to twist and angle their way toward the bow. A few times they had to squeeze past crewmen, slowing their progress. That caused Rice to grit his teeth. He didn't want the _Kuroshio _on the surface longer than necessary.

They reached the forward hatch and climbed through it. The smell of salt air wrapped around Rice's head. Half-a-dozen crewmen stood on the deck, deploying the Zodiac. The SEALs and Nagamine climbed into the raft. Candaele took up position at the front, SAW ready in case any Gyaos appeared.

Rice glanced up at the sun and puffy white clouds overhead. He felt a nervous shudder inside him. He normally did this kind of insertion under cover of darkness. But Nagamine had told them early and mid-afternoon was the least active period of the day for the Gyaos. This was the time to go.

Lonborg started the engine. The Zodiac skipped across the waves, sea spray slapping their faces and uniforms. Rice ignored it as he stared straight ahead at the green/beige lump in the middle of the ocean.

Mission or not, he couldn't help but be overwhelmed by the sense of history. He glanced around him, his mind throwing him back over seventy years ago. Rice imagined hundreds of landing craft droning toward the beaches, while battleships and cruisers lobbed shells at Japanese positions. He focused on the large bulge on the southern part of the island.

Mount Suribachi. The iconic image of Marine and Navy personnel raising the American flag during the battle formed in his mind's eye.

_You're here for a mission, not a history tour._

Rice scanned the skies around the island. No sign of any Gyaos.

They reached the shore without incident. Rice ordered Candaele and Warthan to cover them while they dragged the Zodiac across the gray beach and hid it in nearby undergrowth.

"This sure as hell isn't like all the pictures I've ever seen of Iwo Jima," said Soto.

Rice looked in front of them. Grassy fields lay before them, along with groves of small trees. It was a far cry from all the films and photos he saw from the battle showing a desolate, gray landscape where over 25,000 Americans and Japanese died.

"At least we've got some cover in case the Gyaos pop up. C'mon."

Rice took point, leading the team through the trees. Every so often, he checked over his shoulder. Nagamine kept up with them.

_So far, so good._

He listened for the telltale screeches of the Gyaos and heard none. Maybe they were sacked out in the caves. Rice hoped they stayed that way until they returned to the _Kuroshio._

They soon reached North Field, the small Self-Defense Force base. Rice peered through the brush, biting his lower lip at the scene before him.

"Damn," muttered Warthan. "Looks like the Gyaos did a number on this place."

Rice just nodded. Most of the buildings sported scorch marks and large holes. The top of the airfield's control tower had been torn off. The wreckage of two P-3 Orions and two SH-60 helicopters lay along the side of the runway.

He didn't see any signs of humans or monsters.

"Let's go."

They broke cover and jogged across a grass-covered field. Rice led them through a huge gash in the chainlink fence

"Mongkut. Lonborg. In the tower for overwatch."

The two SEALs acknowledged the order and ran toward the control tower.

Nagamine took out her video camera and started recording. "Blood. There." She pointed to the tarmac.

Rice and Warthan walked over. Dark, red patches stained the asphalt. They continued down the runway. Here and there they found more dried blood stains.

"I got a lot more blood here," Candaele called out from the ruins of one building.

Rice and Warthan hurried over to him, Nagamine behind them, still filming. They stared through the large gap in the building. Rubble, bunks, lockers and other objects lay in a heap on the ground floor. Much of it was covered in dried blood.

"I don't see bones or other remains," said Nagamine. "The Gyaos may have killed them here and taken them someplace else."

"Stockpiling food?" Rice turned to her.

She nodded, her eyes on the blood-covered debris. Nagamine swallowed, but continued to film. Rice noted that she didn't look on the verge of puking. The woman definitely had intestinal fortitude.

"Commander." Warthan crouched, reaching for something on the ground.

"What is it?" Rice went over to him.

"Shell casings." The senior chief held up a couple of small, cylindrical objects. "Five-point-five-six millimeter. Looks like these guys didn't go down without a fight."

"Mm." Rice looked around the base. The lack of a Gyaos corpse showed the fight that took place here was very one-sided.

They searched the wrecked hangars and buildings throughout the base. Rice felt his shoulders sag. Aside from dried blood, helmets and boots, they found no trace of any JSDF personnel. He closed his eyes, sighing to himself. He'd prayed that maybe a couple of people had found a place to hide and survived this slaughter.

No such luck.

Rice headed off to the control tower, icy blades digging into his stomach as he imagined the 400 men and women stationed here, what they went through in the final moments of life before the Gyaos killed them. What must their families be going through?

_Focus on the mission._

He climbed the stairs to the top of the tower, Warthan and Nagamine following.

"All clear?"

"The Gyaos are quiet." Mongkut didn't turn around. He just sat in a swivel chair, peering through the scope of his big .50 caliber Barrett sniper rifle propped up on a console.

Nagamine stood behind the SEAL, her camera aimed at Mount Suribachi. "There are many openings in the mountain. Large ones."

"Let me see. Mongkut." He slapped the Thai sniper on the shoulder. The SEAL slid his chair to the side, allowing Rice to stare through the scope. Huge holes honeycombed Mount Suribachi, all of them big enough for the Gyaos to access.

"I don't recall any photos of Suribachi looking like that."

"They could have used sonic beams to dig new tunnels," said Nagamine.

Rice tilted the rifle down, looking at piles of boats and vehicles throughout the fields and forests near Suribachi. All of them had been torn apart, the Gyaos no doubt rooting inside to get at the people. A dark feeling sank into his gut. He didn't think they'd find any survivors there either.

"Soto," he radioed the SEAL.

"Go, sir."

"Contact the _Kuroshio. _Tell them no sign of survivors at North Field. Also, tell them the possibility of survivors in the boats and vehicles brought here by the Gyaos is highly unlikely."

A pause. "Copy."

Warthan moved next to Rice and stared out at Mount Suribachi. "This could make things easier. Put a few cruise missiles through those holes and bye-bye Gyaos."

"We still must make sure they are in there," said Nagamine.

"The Doc's right." Rice nodded. "Now the fun part begins. We get to walk right into a possible Gyaos nest."

_**TO BE CONTINUED**_


	7. Chapter 7

The veins in Rice's neck stuck out as he gazed at the shredded vehicles and boats strewn around him. Dried blood stained the sides and interiors. His throat constricted. How many people had the Gyaos brought here? Had they all been alive while being carried to Iwo Jima? What had gone through their minds?

_Fear. What else? Fear like they probably never experienced._

He stepped halfway into a multi-million dollar yacht sporting huge gashes and scanned the wrecked interior. There were splotches of blood on the carpet, but no survivors. None of the vehicles or boats they'd searched had survivors.

_We're wasting time here._ Rice tried to quash the logical side of his brain. He hoped that maybe the monsters had missed a handful of people, that they could be hiding in the wreckage.

That hope faded by the second.

Rice moved on to a white and orange bus with its entire roof and part of the side torn away. Emblazoned on the fender was the word DARWINBUS. Probably from Australia, he assumed.

He walked to the tear in the side, Nagamine following, recording everything on her video camera. Rice poked his head inside. Again, he found no survivors. Just blood stains, some backpacks and purses, a few shoes and . . .

"Oh God."

"What?" Nagamine stepped beside him. She let out a gasp and lowered the camera.

A Dora the Explorer doll lay in the aisle.

Moisture formed in Rice's eyes. How old had that little girl been? How scared had she been when the Gyaos tore into the bus?

_She'll never graduate high school or college. Never get married and raise a family. Never do anything . . . ever._

Rice turned away, teeth clenched. He heard Nagamine sniffle as he thought of the baby growing inside Rita's womb back in San Diego.

"Sir?"

Rice turned to find Warthan behind him, his jaw tightened. The senior chief drew a slow breath and said, "I hate to say this, but if there were any survivors hiding here, we probably would have found them by now. We need to recon Mount Suribachi and get out of here before dark."

Rice hung his head for a second, then looked back up at Warthan. "Yeah, you're right."

He forced himself not to look at the doll again and led his team through the grass and trees. They came across a couple of bunkers with rusted machine guns jutting out of the slits, along with a gutted Sherman tank. They peeked inside for any signs that a survivor might have hid in them.

From what Rice saw, it appeared neither the bunkers nor the tank had had any occupants since World War II.

Rice put any thoughts of the Gyaos's victims out of his mind as the group approached Mount Suribachi. His eyes darted from one tunnel to another, hands gripping his MM-1 grenade launcher. All his muscles tensed. He half-expected a Gyaos to pop its head out of the mountain.

None did.

The group slowed as they reached the base of Suribachi. Piles of rocks lay all around it. None of them looked weather worn.

"That must be leftover from when they burrowed into the mountain." Nagamine pointed at the rocks with one hand, while she held the camera with the other.

"I guess we can't expect the Gyaos to clean up after themselves," quipped Soto.

Rice walked up to the edge of the large cave at the base of the mountain. More rock piles lay around the mouth and inside. It looked like an existing cave that the monsters had enlarged with their sonic beams.

He turned back to his SEALs. "Candaele. Lonborg. You both have point. Lonborg, be ready with the strobe."

They both responded with, "Yes, sir."

Rice stared at the cave mouth. Fear scratched at his soul as he thought of the monsters likely lurking inside.

_You volunteered for this, dumbass._

"Let's do this."

They marched into the cave, weapons at the ready. Rice felt the temperature drop a few degrees after walking about a dozen feet. There was enough sunlight from the outside to allow him to see clearly. That would change soon.

A foul stench surrounded him. Rice scrunched his face. He heard Candaele take a quick whiff up ahead.

"Ugh." The big SEAL grimaced. "What the hell's that smell?"

"Almost reminds me of a port-a-pottie," Lonborg said. He then snapped up his left hand. Everyone stopped.

Lonborg looked over his shoulder. "I think we need the doc up here."

Rice nodded, and waved for Nagamine to follow him. Her round face wrinkled in disgust as they moved past Lonborg and Candaele.

Rice halted, his brow furrowed. "Is that what I think it is?" He stared at a huge, pasty-white mass staining the cave floor.

"Yes. That's Gyaos excrement." Nagamine stepped toward it and crouched. She pulled out a vial and spoon from her pack and scooped up a sample.

"Man." The veins in Candaele's neck stuck out. "Makes me glad I'm a SEAL and not a bird doctor."

"Actually, the correct term is ornithologist," said Soto.

Candaele grunted as Nagamine closed the vial and stuffed it in her pack. The group advanced deeper into the cave. More excrement stained the floor and the rock walls. The stench hovered around Rice's head, crawling through his nostrils and down into his stomach. He gritted his teeth to keep from hacking. He heard muffled coughs coming from Soto, Mongkut and Nagamine.

The sunlight from outside nearly vanished. The SEALs and Nagamine broke out ChemLight sticks and attached them to their combat vests. A green aura swept over the cave floor and walls as they continued forward.

The stench in the air changed. A new odor mixed with the Gyaos crap. Stale, rotting. Rice tightened his jaw, holding his breath, taking short, quick gulps of air when needed.

"Damn, this place is rank," Soto muttered, waving a hand in front of his face.

"No mistaking what that smell is," said Warthan.

Rice just nodded. He'd experienced that odor before on battlefields all over the world.

Only this time, it was magnified a thousandfold.

He heard Nagamine stammer in Japanese. Rice turned around. The scientist pressed a hand against her mouth. Her cheeks puffed out.

She bent over and wretched. Vomit splattered against the rock floor.

"Shit." Rice tensed, looking around. Had the Gyaos heard that?

Warthan clutched Nagamine's shoulder and pulled her up straight. "Suck it up, Doc," he scolded her. "You want to give us away to those damn monsters?"

Nagamine turned to the senior chief, then lowered her eyes, looking half-angry and half-embarrassed.

Rice stepped over to her. "You gotta puke, next time, swallow it." He scanned the SEALs. Soto, Candaele, even the usually cool as ice Mongkut seemed close to upchucking. "That goes for everyone. Noise to a minimum."

The others nodded before moving on.

They proceeded up an incline. Rice noticed the cave getting lighter.

"Got an opening ahead," said Lonborg.

"It could be the Gyaos's nest," Nagamine told them.

Rice ordered everyone to conceal their Chemlights as they crested the incline. Ahead of them was a large opening that led to a chamber. A shaft of sunlight descended from the top of the mountain.

The group crept forward. Rice took measured breaths, trying to keep his heartbeat steady. Cold pricks of fear traveled over his skin. He tried to ignore it.

Candaele and Lonborg reached the opening first, crouching near the edge. Rice joined them. His chest tightened as he eyed the chamber.

"My God," he muttered.

Over a hundred Gyaos hung from the ceiling and walls, sleeping. Rice's gaze settled on six monsters larger than all the others, one with a bulging stomach. He then looked at the floor, and swallowed.

Rows of eggs stretched from one end of the chamber to the other.

_There's gotta be three, maybe four hundred._

A horrible image formed in his mind. Hundreds of Gyaos swarming over a large city, blotting out the sun, destroying buildings, devouring people.

Nagamine gasped behind Rice. He turned to her and noticed her wide eyes locked on something on the other side of the chamber. Rice followed her gaze.

His gut fell into a dark hole. He barely suppressed a shiver.

A mountain of bodies rose above the eggs. Not just humans, but whales, sharks, large fish, even a couple of elephants, probably taken from a zoo.

The stench of death felt even stronger than before. Bile roiled in Rice's stomach. His neck muscles strained in an effort to keep from puking.

"They . . ." Nagamine took a shaky breath before continuing. "They must be storing food for when their young hatch."

Rice looked away from the pile of dead. "Do you think that'll be soon?"

"Yes, I do." Nagamine nodded.

"That one looks ready to burst." Rice pointed at the enormous Gyaos with the protruding belly. "How many eggs can the females lay?"

"No one has learned the exact number, but I estimate dozens."

Rice groaned and swept his eyes over the chamber again. _We need to take out this place ASAP._

"Doc, shoot this whole chamber," he told Nagamine. "Get every detail you can. We'll need it to help plan an attack on the Gyaos."

"Mm-hmm." Nagamine nodded and held the camera to her face. She slowly moved it left and right, up and down.

Rice scanned the sleeping Gyaos, taking occasional glances at Nagamine, mentally urging her to hurry up.

_That's fear talking. We can't rush this._

He just prayed the monsters remained asleep.

The minutes passed with agonizing slowness. None of the SEALs spoke. They just kept an eye on the Gyaos. Still, Rice could sense the tension radiating from each man.

_Who wouldn't be worried this close to a crapload of giant monsters?_

He looked to Nagamine, still recording the chamber. Her fear was evident, but it didn't stop her from doing her job. How many other civilians would piss their pants and bolt? Rice had to admit the lithe woman had a damn solid backbone.

"I think I . . ." Nagamine's mouth hung open in mid-sentence. Her camerahand trembled.

Rice held his breath and swung around. A Gyaos hanging on the far wall opened its eyes. The blazing white orbs stared right at them.

_Maybe it hasn't –_

The monster unleashed a high-pitched screech. Other Gyaos opened their eyes and shrieked.

"I think it's time to go, sir," said Warthan.

"You're damn right it is." Rice started to get up.

The Gyaos on the far wall pushed off, rolled and flew at them.

"Lonborg!" Rice hollered. "Strobe!"

The SEAL raised the handheld strobe light. Flickers of bright white light erupted from the lens. Brilliant circles danced over the Gyaos's head. It shuddered, cried out and dropped to the ground.

"Flares!" Rice raised his grenade launcher and pulled the trigger. Soto and Warthan also fired magnesium rounds, while Nagamine triggered her flare gun.

The group turned away moments before the flares burst. Rice sensed intense white light behind him. He grimaced as the Gyaos let out deafening, painful shrieks.

The SEALs and Nagamine ran. Rice hoped the flares would buy them a few minutes.

Unfortunately, it would take longer than a few minutes to reach their Zodiac.

Rice constantly looked over his shoulder as he ran. No sign of the Gyaos, so far.

They dashed out of the cave and kept going, weaving their way through trees and bushes. Rice checked behind. Still no Gyaos. He wondered how long their luck would hold.

Warthan slowed as he neared the treeline. He shouted over his shoulder, "Clearing ahead. Looks like a hundred yards before we get back under cover."

Rice scowled. They'd be exposed, but right now speed counted more than stealth.

"Keep going!"

The group charged into the grassy field. Rice felt iron vices clamp around his legs. He ignored the feeling, just kept running.

He glanced at Nagamine. She stumbled a couple of times, but forced herself to keep moving. She was in good shape, but not SEAL shape. How much longer could she keep running?

A screech pierced the air.

Everyone stopped and turned. The diamond-shaped head of a Gyaos poked over the trees. It roared again.

"Go! Go! Go!"

The group sprinted for the next treeline. It looked so far away.

Rice heard a thumping and rush of wind. He looked behind him. The Gyaos lifted off and angled toward them.

He gripped his grenade launcher. They'd never reach the treeline in time. They'd have to stand and fight.

_We can do it. We have no –_

A warm sensation spread over Rice's chest. His eyes widened. He yanked out the pendant from beneath his fatigues. The hook-shaped stone glowed red.

_Can it be?_

"Holy shit!" Lonborg blurted.

Something rumbled overhead. Rice looked up to see a fireball streak through the air. He watched as it connected with the Gyaos. The monster exploded into a ball of fire. Flaming pieces of flesh shot off in all directions.

Slowly, Rice turned to the north.

A giant turtle with two tusks protruding from its lower jaw flew toward them, jets of flame gushing from its rear.

Gamera opened his maw and let out a prolonged, wailing roar.

_**TO BE CONTINUED**_


	8. Chapter 8

_It is good to be with you again, Jim Rice._

The breath caught in Rice's throat when he heard the voice in his head. Slowly, his muscles unwound. It had been nearly a year since he and Gamera shared a mental link.

His initial shock faded. _Perfect timing, big guy. The Gyaos are waking up, and they're pissed._

_I know. I sensed them. Take your companions to safety. I shall fight them._

Rice clenched his teeth. He didn't want to run out on Gamera. He and his SEALs were heavily armed. They could take down their share of Gyaos.

_I am better suited to fight the Gyaos than you, _Gamera's thoughts echoed in his head. _I shall draw strength from you during the battle, but you must get far from this place._

Gamera landed, flattening several trees near Mount Suribachi. He reared his head back and roared.

Screeches came from the hollowed out mountain. Two Gyaos poked their heads out of the tunnels.

Rice hesitated. It still didn't sit well with him to run out on Gamera.

_He's a two hundred foot fire-breathing turtle. He can take care of himself._

"Let's move it, people."

The group ran for the treeline. Rice checked behind him. A Gyaos shot out of one of the tunnels. Gamera roared. His right arm slashed down. It struck the Gyaos in the back. The monster croaked and slammed into the ground. Gamera stomped on it once, twice.

A sonic beam streaked from the mountain. A yellow flash jumped off Gamera's shoulder.

Rice grimaced as pain burned through his shoulder. He stumbled.

"Sir," Warthan called out. "You okay?"

"I'm fine. Keep going."

They made it to the trees. Images flashed before Rice, images through Gamera's eyes. A sonic beam zipped past him. The turtle belched out a fireball. The Gyaos he aimed for leapt from the tunnel and soared skyward moments before flames exploded against the mountain.

Gamera lifted his head, tracking the monster. Rice felt a burning sensation in his throat. The turtle was getting ready to spit out another fireball.

Something clamped around Rice's ankle. Sharp, painful needles dug through his skin.

Gamera cried out.

Rice barely bit back a yell.

The Gyaos on the ground sank its razor-sharp teeth into Gamera's ankle.

Rice stopped and twisted to the left. He drove his fist toward the ground. Gamera mimicked the moves. The turtle's fist crashed down on the Gyaos's neck. Rice felt the creature's spinal column snap.

A sonic beam struck Gamera's back. Rice grunted, feeling the intense heat just below his shoulderblades.

Gamera swung around. The Gyaos dove on him, firing again. Gamera dodged the beam, which set several treetops afire. He opened his mouth and launched two fireballs. The first one missed.

The other didn't. The Gyaos vanished in a fiery cloud of orange and black.

Gamera let out a triumphant roar.

The SEALs and Nagamine halted at the old bunker they'd passed earlier and crouched behind it. They all took quick pulls from the nozzles of their CamelBaks.

"Soto." Rice turned to the team's radioman. "Get on the horn to the _Kuroshio. _Tell 'em the Gyaos are waking up and we're exfiltrating the island."

"Yes, sir."

Rice sucked on his nozzle again. More images from Gamera appeared before him. Another Gyaos crawled from one of the tunnels. The giant turtle roared and lifted his right arm. A boney-white blade slid out of the elbow. Gamera brought it down, driving it into the Gyaos's skull. The creature shuddered and went limp. Gamera roared and pulled it from the tunnel. He flung the carcass over his shoulder. It crashed down in a nearby field.

_So far, so good. _Rice grinned.

The grin faded when high-pitched shrieks ripped through the air. Gamera looked above him.

Six Gyaos emerged from the opening atop Mount Suribachi.

**XXXXX**

Major Kiyoshi Ohya struggled to keep his eyelids open. He'd been in the air for hours over the Pacific in the _Inazuma, _the Self-Defense Force's modified 767. Absolutely nothing had happened. The steady drone of the two Pratt &amp; Whitney engines permeated the cabin, trying to lull him to sleep. Ohya resisted. He was the combat control officer on this plane, the _de facto _mission commander. It would not do to have a commander fall asleep in front of the men and women under his command.

His eyelids sank. Ohya forced them back. He then tickled the roof of his mouth with his tongue, an old pilot's trick to stay awake. He considered going to the galley for another cup of lukewarm coffee.

_I've already had three cups and they aren't helping._

Ohya needed _something _to happen, to give him that adrenaline kick. If he was doing something, he could stay awa-

"Major," the female comms specialist called from a nearby console. "Message from the _Kuroshio. _The American SEALs have located the Gyaos nest on Iwo Jima."

"Where?"

"Mount Suribachi. They also report the monsters are active."

Ohya nodded and contacted the 767's pilot. "Set course to Iwo Jima."

A pause. "Course plotted. ETA, twenty-two minutes."

Ohya tapped on his keyboard, inputting the thickness of Mount Suribachi, beam width and power output. He leaned back, eyes scanning the numbers on the screen. This would definitely tax the "device." No one had envisioned it being used on something like a mountain. A shiver a dread went through him. Could this damage the "device," something the government had poured billions of yen into developing?

_Better to get them all in one place than when there are dozens in the air._

Ohya began the arming procedures, now fully awake and ready for action.

**XXXXX**

_Keep fighting . . . keep fighting._

Rice stumbled into a tree, sucking down a deep breath. Blood ran down his arm and torso. Pain battered every inch of his body. That was the one drawback of being a link with Gamera. Whatever the big guy felt, Rice felt.

"C'mon, sir." Warthan grabbed his elbow and pulled him off the tree.

Rice tried to shrug off the senior chief. He couldn't break the other man's iron grip.

Through Gamera's eyes, he watched a Gyaos rake its talons across the turtle's torso. Rice grunted as he felt the ripping sensation.

_Fight, damn you. Fight! _

Gamera grabbed the Gyaos by the throat. Scaly flesh crumpled in his grip. Gamera flung the dead monster aside. It slammed into another Gyaos flying nearby. Both creatures dropped to the ground.

A sonic beam cut through the air. It missed Gamera. He launched a fireball that struck a Gyaos in the right wing. It screeched as its limb burst into flaming pieces. The monster struck the ground and rolled toward Gamera. He roared and kicked the Gyaos. It tumbled across the ground.

Another fireball shot out Gamera's mouth. A gusher of flame tore apart the Gyaos.

Two more monsters dove on Gamera. Sonic beams pounded his shell.

The remains of North Field appeared in front of Rice. Not far now to their Zodiac. He gritted his teeth, trying to fight off the pain hammering his body.

Something hummed overhead. Distant, but growing louder by the second. Rice scanned the sky.

An airliner dove toward Iwo Jima.

_What the hell is he . . ._

That's when he noticed the dome behind the cockpit. It was the same 767 that had disintegrated all those Gyaos in Tokyo.

_Gamera. Pull back. There's a plane about to attack the Gyaos. _He pulled up his memory of the Tokyo battle for Gamera to see.

The turtle blasted one of the Gyaos out of the sky. He roared, jets of blue flame gushing from his hind legs. Gamera rose, flipped over, and flew north.

Rice breathed a sigh of relief as the 767 drew closer to Iwo Jima.

_I wonder if that beam can take out the entire mountain._

He prayed it could.

**XXXXX**

"Come three degrees port," Major Ohya told the pilot.

"Coming three degrees port."

Ohya felt the 767 shift slightly. He checked his targeting screen. The crosshairs settled right over the opening in Mount Suribachi's summit.

_One shot, no more Gyaos. _His finger moved to the red firing button.

"Malfunction!" a technician shouted.

A stab of fear pierced Ohya. He snapped his head toward the short technician two consoles down. "What's wrong?"

"We're getting power fluctuations. The programmed beam width is contracting."

Sweat formed on Ohya's forehead. _No, no, no! _He looked back at his screen. The 767 was still on target. He needed to correct this now. If they had to abort, more Gyaos could emerge from the mountain, one of which might bring down the plane.

His fingers pounded the keyboard, trying to compensate for the power fluctuations.

"The power core's becoming unstable." The technician gasped. "Containment field is collapsing."

"Initiate emergency shutdown!"

The technician's fingers danced on the keyboard. "It won't respond!" His voice cracked.

Ohya's heart slammed against his chest. Rivulets of nervous sweat slid down his face. He stared at his screen, hands shaking. There had to be something he could do to stabilize –

**XXXXX**

Rice jumped when the 767 exploded. Through the mass of fire and smoke he saw a blue glow. The air around it shimmered. It expanded over the ocean, reaching the shores of Iwo Jima.

"What the hell's that?" blurted Lonborg.

The blue wave stretched over the island, closing in on them.

"Down!" Rice hollered.

Everyone threw themselves to the ground.

Rice felt his throat grow dry with fear. He thought of Rita, thought of his unborn child.

_I love you . . . I love you._

Energy rippled through his body. Rice felt the sensation of being lifted into the air, of actually becoming the air.

Then he felt nothing.

_**TO BE CONTINUED**_


	9. Chapter 9

Yamagata glanced to the left. Through the window of his MF-3 Excalibur he saw dozens of gray shapes flying toward him. F-15s and F-2s from the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force.

"Looks like the gang's all here." McGovern nodded to the jets. "Time to go blow up some kaiju."

"Sounds good to me." Yamagata watched as the Japanese slipped in with the rest of the formation. Behind him and the other Beastmasters were F/A-18s from the _USS George Washington _and the Royal Australian Air Force, and FA-50 Fighting Eagles from the Philippines and Indonesian air forces. Close to one hundred aircraft in all.

An electric tingle went through Yamagata. It was hard not to get amped up thinking of the swarm of jets around him, the firepower they carried, the mission they were on. He thanked God the politicians in the five countries represented in this strike package didn't drag their feet when it came to dealing with the _Oniuingu_. They wanted to hit these monsters hard. And if this massive squadron couldn't get them all, a multi-national naval and marine force was headed to Iwo Jima to finish the job.

_After what those things did to Guam and Rodan, they damn well better take them seriously._

Yamagata checked the readout in his HMD. Seventy-five miles to target. Seventy-five more miles till they went into battle with flying, laser-spitting monsters. His heartbeat picked up. Adrenaline fired through his veins. Yamagata took slow, controlled breaths. He couldn't let the emotions of the moment overwhelm him.

"Whoa," Caputo muttered behind him.

"Whoa what?" asked McGovern.

"Something's whack with the feed from the Global Hawk over Iwo."

"Care to elaborate?" Yamagata glanced over his shoulder.

"Sorry, sir. It's just the screen . . . well, actually -"

"Beastmaster One, Beastmaster Two." It was Norris who radioed, not Sharpe.

"One. Go," replied Yamagata.

"Sir, did something weird happen to your Global Hawk feed?"

"Looks that way. Caputo." He nodded to the sensor specialist.

"That's affirmative. It was like, well, not the screen itself. It was like the island just . . . winked out."

"This is Three," radioed Winter's sensor specialist, Robinson. "I had the same thing happen on my feed."

"Must be some software glitch," said McGovern.

"Just what we need. Damn recon drone falling apart before we hit the kaiju." Yamagata turned back to the sensor station. "Caputo, get on the horn to Beale." He referred to Beale Air Force Base, which controlled the Global Hawk. "See if they know what's going on."

"Yes, sir," Caputo looked down at his console. "The feed looks fine now. I . . . whoa."

"Another whoa," said McGovern. "This can't be good."

"Share with the class, please," ordered Yamagata.

"I'll show you. I'm patching you through to the Global Hawk feed."

A window appeared in Yamagata's helmet-mounted display. The drone focused on the bulge near the southern half of Iwo Jima. Even though he'd never set foot on the island, he instantly knew the feature.

Mount Suribachi.

Yamagata's gaze shifted to the sky above the mountain. His eyes widened as he leaned forward.

"What the hell is that?"

**XXXXX**

Rice's eyes flickered open. He groaned and pushed himself off the ground. Nothing hurt. There was no dizziness or any other problems.

_I'm alive and okay._

Checking left to right, he saw the other SEALs and Dr. Nagamine also getting up.

"Everyone okay?" he asked.

The others nodded and replied in the affirmative.

"What the hell happened?" Lonborg stared at the sky where the 767 used to be.

"I think the Japanese are going to need another laser plane." Warthan stood and brushed off the dirt from his uniform.

"I never saw an explosion like that. Hey, Soto." Lonborg turned to the radioman. "You're supposed to be a science whiz."

Rice knew that was an accurate statement. Before joining the Navy, Soto had been a 4.0 student at his high school in Yorktown, Virginia and a Siemans Foundation Math, Science and Technology Competition national finalist.

"What the hell happened up there?" Lonborg nodded toward the sky.

Soto shook his head. "I have no idea. No laser, hell, nothing should explode like that."

"Do you think it was . . ." Nagamine paused, her face stiffening in worry. "Radioactive?"

Concern also showed on the faces of Candaele and Soto.

Rice's lips pressed together. Fear sank into his soul. He imagined himself weakened and wasting away from cancer.

_Be scared later. _"We can get tests done when we get back to the _Kuroshio._ Focus on the here and now."

He delved into Gamera's consciousness. The giant turtle dove on a Gyaos, clamping his jaws around its throat. He flung the giant bird into the side of Mount Suribachi.

"Looks like Gamera's got things in hand. Soto, contact _Kuroshio. _Tell 'em we're getting the hell outta Dodge."

"Yes, sir." Soto put the receiver to his ear. "SEAL team to _Kuroshio . . . _SEAL team to _Kuroshio, _do you read? Over . . . _Kuroshio, _respond."

He looked up at Rice. "Nothing."

"Maybe that explosion knocked out comms," suggested Warthan.

"Maybe," said Rice. "Comms check, everybody."

Their personal radios worked fine. Soto, however, still couldn't raise the Japanese sub.

"I don't get it." His face scrunched in a perplexed look. "I checked the radio twice. Nothing's wrong with it. It's like . . . the _Kuroshio _isn't there."

Rice exhaled slowly through his nose. He strode up to a nearby rise overlooking the Pacific and took out his binoculars. He scanned the water offshore, searching for a periscope or a dark shadow beneath the waves.

Nothing.

The ocean vanished before him. Rice looked through Gamera's eyes. Yellow beams streaked out the tunnels in Mount Suribachi. Piercing heat tore into the turtle's torso . . .

And Rice's. He growled and stumbled backwards.

"Sir." Warthan grabbed him before he fell. "Gamera?"

Rice nodded, baring his teeth. "Damn Gyaos are using the tunnels as firing ports."

Two more beams struck Gamera. He cried out and started to fall. Rice closed his eyes, battling through the pain, urging Gamera to stay on his feet.

The turtle did. He opened his mouth and spat out a fireball. A mass of flames exploded against the mountain.

Rice drew a breath, composing himself. "Soto, broadcast on whatever frequency you can. I don't care who you raise. Our navy, the Japanese navy, the Chinese navy. Hell, get hold of Tom Hanks and his volleyball. We need someone to get us off this island."

**XXXXX**

Yamagata watched as a barrage of lasers struck the giant turtle. The damn thing stayed on its feet.

_Well this isn't going to be easy now. _His arms and shoulders tensed as he continued to eye the feed from the Global Hawk.

"Sir, we may have an ID on the new kaiju," said Caputo.

"What is it?"

"According to the data base, it's almost a match to a monster designated as Kamoebas."

"Never heard of it," said McGovern.

"It's from back in 1970," Caputo told him. "A deep space probe returning to Earth was hijacked by some alien entity and crashed near an island in the South Pacific. It mutated several sea creatures into giant monsters, including a rock turtle."

"Looks like it's back for a return engagement," McGovern noted.

"Just two problems with that." Caputo stared at his console. "The reports from the survivors say Kamoebas and all the other mutated creatures were killed. There's also nothing to indicate that Kamoebas can fly."

McGovern slowly bobbed his head from side-to-side, thinking. "Maybe those aliens mutated another turtle that didn't show its face . . . until now."

"Whatever the case, we'll deal with it." Yamagata stared at the feed. The turtle took two more laser blasts. It staggered, but remained standing.

_I hope._

INITIAL POINT REACHED.

The words flashed in Yamagata's HMD. According to the jet's GPS, the multi-national squadron was fifty miles away from Iwo Jima.

"Commencing attack run. Gov, you have weps."

"I have weps. Missile bay doors open . . . weapons hot."

The radio filled with other pilots announcing their bombs and missiles were ready.

Yamagata looked out across the Pacific. Iwo Jima appeared as a brown lump in the distance. He gripped the Excalibur's control stick tighter. _Not long now._

"Sirs," said Caputo. "I'm picking up a distress call from Iwo Jima."

Yamagata looked over his shoulder, brow furrowed. According to satellite and recon drone images, the Gyaos had wrecked the JSDF base on the island. Maybe some of the personnel had survived the attack.

"Patch it through to us."

"Yes, sir. Patching it through."

Seconds later, a voice came through Yamagata's headphones. Not Japanese like he expected. It was distinctly American.

"This is United States Navy SEAL team to anyone on this frequency. We are on Iwo Jima and need immediate exfil. Anyone, respond."

McGovern turned to Yamagata. "When the hell did the Navy drop SEALs on Iwo?"

"No one told us about it." Yamagata scowled and shook his head. "Let's hear it for our great inter-service communications."

He clicked the mike button to reply. "US Navy SEALs, this Beastmaster One. We are a United States joint service combat aircraft."

"Roger, Beastmaster One. Standby for our CO."

A few seconds passed before he heard a new voice, one with a noticeable New England accent.

"Beastmaster One, this is Lieutenant Commander Jim Rice."

_Really? _The baseball fan in Yamagata couldn't help but think of the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame slugger with the same name from the 1970s and 1980s.

"I read you five-by-five, Commander. What's your SITREP?"

"I have six SEALs, including myself, and one Japanese civilian roughly one klick east of North Field. We lost our ride home and Iwo is lousy with giant monsters. We need immediate exfil."

"Roger that," replied Yamagata. "I'll get on the horn with the Navy. They've got a bunch of ships headed toward Iwo as we speak."

"Much obliged, Beastmaster One," said Rice.

"Right now, I suggest you and your people get under cover. We're rolling in with a large strike package. In about two minutes, we are going to drop a lot of ordnance on those giant birds . . . and that big-ass turtle."

_**TO BE CONTINUED**_

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **_The reference to Kamoebas comes from the movie "Space Amoeba," probably better known in the USA as "Yog, Monster from Space." _


	10. Chapter 10

Rice froze. He replayed Beastmaster One's words in his head. _"We are going to drop a lot of ordnance on those giant birds . . . and that big-ass turtle."_

Creases formed on his forehead. _What the hell is he talking about? _"Beastmaster One, you do know that's Gamera down there."

"What the hell's a Gamera?"

"What?" Rice mouthed silently. He looked at the other SEALS and Dr. Nagamine. All looked stunned by Beastmaster's words.

"Is that guy living under a rock?" Warthan nodded to the radio set.

Rice hit the "to talk" button. "The big-ass turtle is Gamera. The one who defeated the Gyaos in a Japan. The one who killed Thulgira in Korea."

Several seconds passed before Beastmaster One replied. "Commander, I have no idea what you're talking about."

**XXXXX**

Yamagata turned to McGovern, face scrunched in confusion. "Gyaos? Thulgira?"

The WSO shrugged. "I thought Yonggary was the monster from Korea."

"Beastmaster," Rice called. "Do not engage Gamera. Repeat, do not engage Gamera. He's on our side."

Yamagata was about to respond when another voice broke in on the radio.

"Beastmaster One, Sangai Lead." It was Colonel Enoshita, the air wing leader. Since Iwo Jima was Japanese territory, they had command of this operation. "Cease transmission with this person. Prepare to engage kaiju."

"Roger, Lead." Yamagata killed the transmission. He looked up. Iwo Jima was less than a mile out. He pointed the Excalibur's nose in the turtle's – _Gamera's –_ direction.

_Just who the hell was I talking to? _Was Rice really a SEAL who happened to share the name of a famous baseball player? How did he know the turtle was a "good" kaiju? Why the hell would he be making up these stories?

"Caputo," Yamagata called over his shoulder. "Contact PACOM." He used the acronym for Pacific Command. "Find out if they have any SEAL teams operating on Iwo Jima."

"Yes, sir."

"Target lock," said McGovern. "Good tone."

Beastmasters Two and Three also radioed the same thing. Soon dozens of pilots reported they were locked on target.

"This is Sangai Lead," said Colonel Enoshita. "Weapons free."

**XXXXX**

"Stupid bastards!" Rice shouted. A shiver went through him as numerous contrails slashed across the sky. He also spotted several dark, oblong objects falling toward the island. Bombs.

_Why are these humans attacking me? _He heard Gamera's voice in his head.

_I don't know. I don't know what the hell's going on._

Rice felt Gamera tense. The turtle raised his head toward the approaching jets and missiles and roared

"No, no, no." _Gamera. Do not attack those jets. Retreat. Now._

The turtle closed his mouth. Gushers of flame shot out his hind quarters, propelling him into the air. A few Gyaos in the tunnels around Mount Suribachi opened fire. Their beams missed.

A mass of fire and smoke rose from the south as the missiles and bombs impacted. Rice felt tremors under his feet. A few contrails pulled up and pursued Gamera. Rice's gut tightened as two of the missiles drew closer.

Two brilliant flashes blotted out Gamera's rear. The turtle wailed.

Rice shut his eyes and let out a loud grunt. His feet felt on fire.

"Sir?" Warthan and Candaele started toward him.

"I'm fine." He waved them off, then looked to the sky.

The jets launched another barrage of missiles.

"Dammit. Soto." Rice looked at the radioman. "Get me the _Reagan. _We gotta get Admiral Breeden to stop those dumbasses from shooting at Gamera."

"Sir, I tried contacting _Reagan _and our other ships earlier. No one responded."

"Then keep trying until someone does respond."

"Yes, sir."

"Look." Nagamine pointed south.

Rice turned. He stared unblinking at the sight.

A thick swarm of Gyaos surged out of the top of Mount Suribachi.

"Sir," said Warthan. "There's an old Japanese bunker a quarter-mile from here. We better take cover there."

"I'm not gonna argue with you, Senior Chief. Move it, SEALs."

The group sprinted through the brush. Rice glanced back a couple of times. Dozens of yellow beams slashed through the air. Balls of orange and black winked on and off. Jets exploding. Tracers and contrails zipped toward the Gyaos. Four of the creatures tumbled out of the air.

The SEALS and Nagamine hurried into the bunker. It was a simple, square concrete structure with a slim opening in the front. A firing slit for a machine gun. Rice noticed the walls were blackened. He guessed the Marines used a flamethrower to take out the bunker over seventy years ago.

"Soto?"

The radioman looked at him, grim-faced, and shook his head. "Nothing. It's just like the _Kuroshio. _It's like the _Reagan's_ not even there."

Rice clenched his teeth. He cursed the concrete walls around him. He desperately needed something to punch to get out some of his frustration.

_Keep it together, Jim._

It took all his discipline to do that. They couldn't raise their carrier or the sub that brought them here, and US warplanes were firing on Gamera, the monster that helped them win the Second Korean War.

_Did the whole world just go insane?_

**XXXXX**

"Ninja! On your six!"

Yamagata jammed the stick left at Blade's warning. The Excalibur banked hard. He checked out the window. A yellow beam flashed past his jet. His eyes shifted to the rear camera feed. An _Oniuingu _followed.

Blade's Excalibur appeared behind the beast. A blast from the particle beam cannons ripped through the monster's torso. It jerked and dropped to the right. The _Oniuingu _flapped its wings, trying to right itself.

Two more beams from Blade's plane cut into the monster. It spun, then fell toward the island.

"Thanks for the save, buddy." Yamagata radioed the Navy pilot.

"My pleasure."

Yamagata swung the Excalibur around. Jets, _Oniuingu_, contrails and tracers criss-crossed the sky. A fireball appeared ahead of him. Another to his left. An Indonesian FA-50 fired a missile at one monster. Its head exploded in a cloud of flesh and fire. A US F/A-18 raked another _Oniuingu_ with its 20mm cannon.

"Sangai Lead," radioed Enoshita. "All Air-Self Defense and American planes engage the turtle. All other squadrons engage the _Oniuingu."_

Yamagata, and many other pilots, responded with two clicks on their radios.

"Beastmasters," said Enoshita. "Take point on Gamera."

"Beastmaster One. Copy, Lead."

Yamagata turned away from Iwo Jima and pushed the throttle to full military power. Blade's and Winter's Excaliburs fell in behind him. The US F/A-18s and Japanese F-15s and F-2s followed.

"Gov, you have weps. Give me a volley of Sunstrokes."

"I have weps," said McGovern. "Beastmasters Two and Three. Target four Sunstrokes apiece on that turtle."

Blade and Winter gave him two clicks in acknowledgment.

Yamagata gazed through his visor at the giant flying turtle. He estimated the distance at ten miles out and closing.

_Gamera. Why did he call it Gamera?_ He tried to shake off the conversation with Rice, if the guy's name was really Rice.

_Deal with it later. Focus on bringing down that monster._

"I have lock," reported McGovern. "Good tone."

"Two, good tone," said Norris.

"Three, good tone," said Robinson.

"Beastmasters, weapons f-"

"Wait, One!" blurted Winter.

"Winter, what the hell?" snapped Blade. "We've got that thing -"

"I've got a wake, a big one. Two miles off my starboard wing."

Yamagata stared out the windshield to his right. Sure enough, a long, white line knifed through the ocean.

"I see it," he said.

"I don't see any ship," said Winter. "It sure as hell isn't a submarine."

Yamagata shifted in his ejection seat. His lips compressed into a tight line. "I've got a bad feeling, people. I think we've got another kaiju below."

"Great," McGovern grumbled. "Like we don't have enough here already."

Yamagata eyed the wake. It curved to the north, as if following the turtle. And it was going damn fast, faster than any ship he knew.

A geyser of water exploded at the tip of the wake. An enormous dark shape rose from the ocean. Yamagata took a gulp of air and held it, taking in the compact reptilian head and armored plates running down the back.

Godzilla reared back, opened his maw and unleashed a blast of atomic fire.

_**TO BE CONTINUED**_


	11. Chapter 11

Yamagata watched the rush of blue flame strike Gamera. A storm of sparks and smoke erupted from the monster's rear. It rolled over and plunged into the ocean.

Godzilla cut through the water, heading toward he fallen turtle. Yamagata circled above them. He turned to McGovern. "What say we give the big guy a hand?"

The WSO shrugged. "I don't think he needs it, but what the hell?"

The three MF-3 Excaliburs dove on Gamera.

"Freeze rays, on my mark." Yamagata shifted the jet's nose. The gun pipper settled over the roiling water. "Mark!"

Three white beams flashed from the tip of each Excalibur. Ice swept over the giant turtle, floating on its back. The water around it froze, forming a miniature glacier.

The Beastmasters swung to the left as Godzilla bore down on frozen form of Gamera.

"Sangai Lead, Beastmaster One." Yamagata radioed Colonel Enoshita. "Recommend we re-engage the _Oniuingu. _I think Godzilla's got this in hand."

A few seconds of silence passed before the air wing commander replied, "Roger, One. All planes, head for Iwo Jima. Re-engage _Oniuingu."_

Yamagata checked over his shoulder. Godzilla was almost on top of Gamera. He grinned.

_You're in a world of trouble, turtle._

**XXXXX**

The ice cracked around Gamera as he struggled in the frozen water. Through his upside-down view of the world, he saw Godzilla approach. The monster let out a prolonged, piercing roar.

Intense heat flooded the lower half of Gamera's body. Jets of flame gushed from the openings for his legs. The ice around them melted. Gamera burst through the ice encasing him. He retracted his head a second before slamming into Godzilla's mid-section.

The radioactive dinosaur fell backwards. Walls of water shot up around him.

Gamera flipped over in mid-air. He roared and arced around. Godzilla broke the surface and turned.

Gamera crashed into Godzilla's skull. His head snapped back. Pain drilled through his brain, blinding the great monster. He toppled over and hit the water, sending up towering waves.

A sharp wail erupted from Gamera's mouth. He banked to the right and angled himself at the ocean. The turtle tore through the water. He spotted Godzilla twisting below, trying to right himself and return to the surface. Gamera plowed through the water, aiming for the other monster.

Godzilla lifted his head as Gamera approached. Teeth bared, he kicked his huge, powerful legs. Both monsters rocketed toward each other, arms extended.

They collided. Tremors of pain pounded their enormous bodies. The two spun around, thousands of bubbles swirling about them. Godzilla brought down a fist on Gamera's rugged shell. The turtle slashed with his right hand. Sharp claws ripped into Godzilla's side. A mist of red floated in the water.

Godzilla pushed himself away. He reared back and rammed his palm into Gamera's head once, twice. The large turtle pulled back. The openings for his lower legs gushed flame. Gamera shot toward the surface.

Godzilla followed, kicking as hard as he could. He could not catch Gamera before blasted out of the water.

The turtle flew higher into the sky as Godzilla surfaced. He turned back toward mutated dinosaur and let out a wail. Two fireballs spat from his mouth. Godzilla roared and dropped beneath the waves.

The fireballs exploded on the water. Godzilla pushed himself to the surface. Water burst around him. Atomic fire spewed from his mouth. He twisted around, the stream edging closer to Gamera. It connected, sparks and fire jumping from the turtle's rear. He roared and pancaked into the Pacific.

Godzilla raced toward his foe. He belched out more blue flame. Gamera activated his rear jets. The fire just missed him, boiling the water behind him.

Gamera spun toward Godzilla. His maw opened, unleashing another fireball. It exploded against Godzilla's torso. He let out a cry of pain and anger.

Gamera retracted his head and appendages. He whirled around, a blue aura surrounding him. The turtle sped over the waves. Godzilla just righted himself when Gamera crashed into him.

**XXXXX**

Yamagata jerked in his seat as another _Oniuingu_ beam struck the Excalibur's titanium/diamond ally hull. He gritted his teeth, banked right, then dove left. Another beam zipped past his starboard wing. He glanced at the feed from the jet's rear camera. The _Oniuingu _stayed on his tail.

"Somebody clear my six." Yamagata jinked left. A yellow beam just missed him.

"I'm on it," Winter's voice came through his headphones.

Yamagata swung to the right. Two F/A-18s flashed past his nose, less than a mile away. A cold blade of fear stabbed him. He didn't only have to worry about _Oniuingu _shooting him down, but colliding with other planes.

He banked again, glancing at the rear monitor. The monster followed. Its mouth opened wide. Yamagata jammed the stick left. G-forces crushed him. He glimpsed a flash of yellow overhead.

"Winter," he grunted.

"Tally on the kaiju."

Yamagata's eyes flickered to the rear monitor. Two particle beams tore through the _Oniuingu's _torso. It arched its back, mouth opened in what he assumed was a scream.

Another particle beam burst sliced through the monster. It went limp and spiraled toward the Pacific.

"Thanks, Winter."

Something hammered the Excalibur's rear. The plane bucked.

"Shit!" McGovern's head whipped left to right.

Yamagata leveled out, then banked left. All around him, jets, monsters and lasers streaked across the sky. Two _Oniuingu _tumbled into the water, trailing smoke and flame. Two jets vanished in a flash of orange and black.

"There!" McGovern pointed down.

Yamagata looked right. Half-a-dozen lasers shot from the hollowed-out summit of Mount Suribachi. One beam cleaved off the wing of an F/A-18. Another struck an F-15, blowing it apart.

"The damn things are using it like a foxhole," commented McGovern.

A beam zipped past their Excalibur, missing them by forty feet.

Yamagata checked the AESA phased array radar. Blade's plane was aiding some US Navy F/A-18s under attack by a pair of _Oniuingu. _Winter, though, was still guarding his six.

"Winter, with me. Target Mount Suribachi's summit."

"Roger, Ninja."

He wheeled around, putting his nose on Iwo Jima. To his right, a fiery jet plummeted toward the ocean.

"Gov, you have weps."

"I have weps." The WSO turned to Yamagata, jaw tight for a moment. "We're down to our last three Sunstrokes."

"Use 'em all. Winter, how many Sunstrokes are you packing?"

"We're down to four."

"Use 'em up," ordered Yamagata. "I want those bastards dead."

"Roger."

Both jets dove at Suribachi. Lasers continued to shoot out from the summit. To the north, a jet exploded. Another one, a Japanese F-2, went into a dive. It launched one missile, two missiles.

A beam struck the cockpit. A ball of fire consumed the aircraft.

Mount Suribachi grew before Yamagata. The fire from the _Oniuingu _never let up. He saw their heads poking out over the lip of the crater. Several beams streaked past him. One grazed the Excalibur's side. The plane shook. Yamagata kept it on target. Two more lasers flashed by. Sweat drenched his body. He felt his heart slam against his chest. For an instant, he wondered if dive bomber pilots in World War II felt this way.

"Shit!" Winter blurted over the radio.

"Three. Report," ordered Yamagata.

"We took two hits to the port wing. Still good to go."

"Gov." Yamagata glanced at McGovern.

"One sec . . . locked on. Fire. Fire. Fire."

The Sunstroke missiles raced away from the Excalibur. Yamagata banked left.

Yellow lit up the Excalibur's nose. A quake rattled the jet. Yamagata grabbed the stick with both hands. The Excalibur rolled left. Yamagata blinked, bright dots floating across his vision.

Another blow shook the aircraft. Yamagata shoved the stick forward, counted to two, then pulled back. The dots started to fade. He jinked left. Two beams zipped past the windshield. He turned back to Mount Suribachi.

All three of their Sunstrokes overshot the island and flew across the Pacific. Yamagata clenched his teeth, seething. The blows must have broken the missiles' laser lock.

Three brilliant white balls of light sprouted on the side of Suribachi. Those had to be Winter's Sunstrokes. The fourth missile exploded within the crater, blotting out one _Oniuingu._

Seven shots, one kill. Yamagata resisted the urge to pound his console. He had no time to be angry.

"Caputo. Damage report."

"Freeze ray and AESA offline. Power flow to the particle beams disrupted."

"Great," McGovern growled. "All we have left are the GAU-8s."

Yamagata checked the ammo for the two guns. They were down to 150 rounds each.

"Sangai Lead to all planes," Colonel Enoshita radioed. "Regroup three miles south of Mount Suribachi. My squadron will cover you while -"

The transmission ended with a dull _thud. _Yamagata spotted a fireball to his right. The rear section of an F-15 tumbled end over end, engulfed in flames.

Yamagata held his breath. They'd just lost their wing commander.

"Cherry Tree to all aircraft." The transmission came from the _George Washington, _which provided command and control for the strike. "Disengage. Repeat, disengage and return to base."

The airwaves rattled with double-clicks of the mike from the surviving pilots, Yamagata included. He turned the Excalibur south and pushed the throttle to full military power. With the AESA radar down, all he had were the rear camera and his own Mark One Eyeballs to check on the other aircraft. He saw the remaining US and Australian F/A-18s, Japanese F-15s and F-2s, and Filipino and Indonesian FA-50s following him.

He also saw Blade and Winter closing ranks with him, though Winter's Excalibur wobbled.

"How're you holding up, Winter?"

"The plane's sluggish. I think my port aileron took some damage."

"Can you make it back to base?" asked Yamagata.

"I will, even if we have to get out and push," replied Winter. "I'm not in the mood to go into the ocean, especially since I left my surfboard back home."

Yamagata couldn't help but grin. He checked the rear monitor. The _Oniuingu _didn't follow them, thank God.

He let out a breath when Caputo spoke up. "Major, I just got a reply from PACOM on your query about the SEALs."

"What did they say?"

"There are no SEALs conducting any operations on Iwo Jima."

Brow furrowed, Yamagata looked at Caputo, then at McGovern.

"Okay," the WSO said. "So who the hell is that Jim Rice guy we were talking to?"

"Damn good question, Gov."

Yamagata stared ahead when Blade's voice came through his headphones. "Beastmaster Two. The _Oniuingu_ are heading north."

Yamagata stared at the rear monitor, tapping an icon on the screen to magnify it. A cloud of dark gray shapes soared away from the island. He swallowed.

They were headed straight for Godzilla.

_**TO BE CONTINUED**_


	12. Chapter 12

Rice pressed his hand against the bunker's concrete wall. He panted, sweat drenching every inch of his body. The sky and ocean whipped past him as he saw the world through Gamera's eyes. Actually, more like an extra-sensory perception that allowed the giant turtle to "see" while in "flying saucer" mode. To Rice, it was something akin to a living radar, with undulating waves representing the ocean and a reptilian-shaped blob for the fire-breathing dinosaur.

Gamera swung around again, streaking right at his foe. Rice tensed, bracing himself for the impact.

The turtle smashed into the dinosaur. Tremors rocked Rice's body. His knees buckled. For a moment, he switched back to his own vision. His SEALs and Dr. Nagamine stood just a few feet away, staring at him. None of them asked how he was or tried to help him. Save for Lonborg, they'd all seen what happens to a human linked with Gamera.

Rice gulped down a couple of breaths. The dinosaur thrashed and pushed himself to the surface. It let out a piercing roar.

Gamera circled around, gearing up for another collision.

_Don't go to the well too often._

He sensed confusion from Gamera. _I do not understand, _the turtle mentally replied.

_Don't use the same tactic over and over._

_This creature is weakening. I must press the attack._

Gamera skimmed the water, spinning toward the dinosaur. The monster turned, its form growing larger before him. Rice clenched his teeth, prepared for another collision.

The dinosaur lunged out of the water, arms extended.

_Oh shit. _Rice's insides tightened.

The dinosaur landed on top of Gamera. Both monsters crashed into the ocean, throwing up enormous curtains of water. The dinosaur twisted around under the ocean. Gamera flipped over below the surface. A wave of dizziness enveloped Rice. He sank to his knees.

"Sir." Warthan hurried over, along with Candaele and Nagamine. They helped him to his feet.

"I'm fine." Rice waved them off, stumbling as he did. He breathed deep, trying to recover.

Head and front arms out, Gamera charged beneath the surface toward the dinosaur. Rice reached out himself. If they could grab the other monster's legs, knock him off balance . . .

The dinosaur kicked Gamera's head. The turtle's neck snapped back.

So did Rice's.

His body shook from massive blows. The dinosaur's fist bashed Gamera's shell again and again. Rice drove his left fist forward. Gamera punched the dinosaur in the gut. The other monster hit the turtle again.

Rice gritted his teeth. He swore his vertebrate shattered. Grunting, he punched the air a second time, third time.

Gamera punched the dinosaur twice. It staggered back.

_Don't let up! _Rice shouted in his mind.

Gamera leapt onto the dinosaur. Both monsters toppled into the water. Gamera clawed at the other monster's head. He missed the eye. The sharp talons instead cut into the dinosaur's neck. It punched Gamera in the throat. Rice's mouth opened wide, unable to breath.

The beasts surfaced. The dinosaur punched Gamera's head. Rice's skull rattled. He stumbled to the left.

The dinosaur roared and drew back its arm. Its fist flew at Gamera.

Rice brought up his left arm. So did Gamera. He blocked the dinosaur's blow. Gamera's right hand snapped up, striking the other monster's chin. It began to topple. The turtle lowered itself and charged. He rammed his shoulder into the dinosaur's chest.

_Finish him!_

Rice felt heat roiling in his throat. A fireball burst from his mouth. The explosion blotted out the dinosaur's torso. It thrashed, wailing in pain and anger. Gamera belched out another fireball. It, too, exploded against the dinosaur.

The damn thing was still alive.

Rice's eyes widened. _And I thought Thulgira was tough._

Blue fire shot from the dinosaur's mouth. Flame and smoke burst from Gamera's torso.

Rice growled, clutching his chest. His skin felt like he'd walked into a blast furnace. He clenched his teeth, trying to summon strength for himself.

For Gamera.

The turtle spat out a fireball. The dinosaur breathed out a stream of flame. Both connected. The explosion blinded Gamera, and Rice.

He blinked. Something moved behind the dinosaur. Actually, not some thing. Lots of things, in the sky.

_Crap._

Gyaos. Dozens of them. He heard their high-pitched screeches as they dove on the two monsters.

Sonic beams slashed through the air. Six tore into the dinosaur's back. Sparks and smoke jumped off its armor plates. The creature reared its head back and roared.

Gamera launched two fireballs. Two Gyaos burst apart in a flash of flame and smoke.

More sonic beams rained down on Gamera. Red hot spears of pain tore through the turtle's chest and arms.

Rice felt every bit of agony. He sensed Gamera's strength fading.

_Push through. Fight._

The turtle shot out a fireball. It missed.

The dinosaur grabbed one Gyaos by the wing. The flying beast squealed. The dinosaur swung it around and smashed it into another Gyaos. Both creatures tumbled into the water. Blue flame gushed from the dinosaur's mouth. A volcanic blast of flame and water surrounded the two Gyaos.

Another volley of beams cut into the dinosaur's scaly hide. Dark red blood cascaded down its body. It belched out another stream of fire. One Gyaos exploded.

More beams hit the dinosaur.

More beams hit Gamera. Rice felt the strength evaporate from the turtle, and himself. He slid against the wall of the bunker. His eyes drooped.

Gamera slipped under the water.

_Don't . . . give . . . up._

Gamera closed his eyes.

So did Rice.

_**TO BE CONTINUED**_


	13. Chapter 13

Rice's eyes flickered open. Every inch of his body felt sore. The bunker was dark. He groaned, trying to sit up.

"Sir." Senior Chief Warthan stepped over to him. "How are you feeling?"

"Like crap." Rice pushed himself up, grimacing as he did. He rubbed his eyes. "How long was I out?"

"About seven hours."

"What of Gamera?" asked Dr. Nagamine.

"He's taking a siesta at the bottom of the ocean. Between that fire breathing dinosaur and the Gyaos, he took a hell of a beating."

"So did you, sir," Candaele pointed out.

"Yeah, the joys of being a link." Rice took a breath. Slight tremors of pain rippled up and down his torso. His throat felt scratchy. He took a quick gulp from his Camelbak. "Senior Chief, SITREP."

"The Gyaos flew out of here right when the sun went down."

"They are probably searching for more food," said Nagamine.

"I've got Mongkut keeping an eye on Mount Suribachi," said Warthan. "He hasn't reported any activity since the Gyaos left."

"Well now would be a good time to get off this island. Soto." He turned to the comms specialist. "Any luck on finding us a ride?"

"Yes, sir. I managed to make contact with an Aussie frigate, the _Ballarat. _They're sending a chopper to extract us." Soto checked his watch. "Should be here in twenty mikes."

"Good." Rice nodded.

"I told them not to use flying lights," noted Nagamine. "That might attract the Gyaos."

"If there are any still on the island." Lonborg folded his arms. "It looked like they all took off when the sun went down."

Warthan turned to him. "They might have left a security detail behind to protect the eggs."

Lonborg's face scrunched in a skeptical look. "Would they even be able to think like that? I mean, they are animals."

"No." Nagamine shook her head. "They are weapons, made by an ancient civilization. I believe they possess some level of intelligence. At the very least, they have the instinct of any animal to protect their offspring."

"The Doc has a good point," said Rice. "We operate under the assumption that there are at least a handful of Gyaos still holed up inside Mount Suribachi."

"If that's the case," Warthan looked around at the others, "we need to book out of here as soon as that chopper lands."

"Roger that." Rice's eyes settled on the Senior Chief. "Do we have IR markers set up at the LZ?"

"Not yet. The Doc told us to wait until the chopper gets close. She said the Gyaos can see in the infrared spectrum. They might be able to pick up our markers."

Rice nodded, glancing at Nagamine. Now he was glad for her presence on this mission. He might have overlooked that detail, and it could have cost him and his men their lives.

"Candaele. Lonborg." Rice turned to the two SEALs. "Get ready to place those markers when we see the chopper."

"Yes, sir," they both replied.

"Any word on what happened to the _Kuroshio _or the _Reagan?" _Rice looked at Soto.

He shook his head. "Negative."

"I do not understand," said Nagamine. "Why would they not answer us?"

"I wish I had an answer, Doc." Rice stared at the bunker's floor, trying to think of a logical explanation. It all started with the explosion of the Japanese laser plane, but they had determined that had not affected their communications. It couldn't have destroyed the _Kuroshio_ while leaving the island intact, and the _Reagan _was too far away to be affected.

He also wondered about that fire-breathing dinosaur. What the hell was it and where did it come from?

Hopefully, he'd get some answers when the Australians picked them up.

Rice turned to the slit in the bunker, staring out at the darkened hills and vegetation of Iwo Jima.

_Nothing to do now but wait._

He sat against the bunker wall. Suddenly hungry, he took out a Soldier Fuel bar and devoured it. Rice reached into his tunic pocket for another when he thought about the Gyaos and Mount Suribachi. With most of the monsters gone, this would be the perfect time to assault the cave and destroy the eggs, as well as that pregnant Gyaos.

He grunted, his fingers squeezing the sides of the energy bar. Unfortunately, he only had five other SEALs and an unarmed civilian. Nowhere near enough warm bodies for an effective attack. They also weren't properly outfitted for that kind of assault. They'd need demo packs, _lots_ of demo packs, to make sure they wiped out all those eggs.

Rice clenched his jaw, frustration boiling. He didn't like leaving the island with hundreds of Gyaos eggs intact, and maybe close to hatching.

_Our mission was recon. We got the intel on their nest. It's up to someone else to take 'em out._

Hopefully, that someone else could do it before those eggs hatched.

"Chopper inbound," announced Soto.

Rice removed his hand from his pocket. "Lonborg. Candaele. Go."

The two SEALs rushed out of the bunker. Rice slid his NVGs over his eyes and peered through the slit. Lonborg and Candaele ran through some brush and vanished from sight. Rice started to count in his head. At twenty-two, the pair reappeared, with Lonborg giving a thumbs up.

Rice turned to the others. "Time to go."

He led them out of the bunker, calling for Mongkut to join them. All the SEALs had their weapons raised. The thumping of rotorblades drew closer by the second. Rice's gaze shifted to the dark mound of Mount Suribachi to the south. He saw no sign of Gyaos.

They approached the clearing, squatting among the trees and bushes. Rice stared out to sea. Just above the waves, he saw the dark, oval-shaped form of the Australian Seahawk helicopter. Per Nagamine's instructions, they flew without navigation lights.

The leaves and branches swayed as the chopper neared. Soon sharp winds sent the vegetation into a frenzy. A cloud of sand swirled as the Seahawk flared and hovered over the clearing. The aircraft swung around, the port side facing Rice and his team. It landed, the side door sliding open.

"Go! Go! Go!" Rice shouted over the roar of the engines, stabbing his hand forward.

The SEALs and Dr. Nagamine sprang to their feet and ran toward the chopper. Rice glanced at Mount Suribachi. Still no sign of the Gyaos. So far, so good. He looked back to the chopper . . .

And skidded to a halt.

Four Australian sailors with night-vision goggles stood before him, two to the left, two to the right. They aimed their compact F88 Austeyr rifles at him and his SEALs. Within the Seahawk, a crewman aimed a big door-mounted .50 caliber machine gun at them.

"What the hell?" Rice's face wrinkled in confusion.

One of the sailors shouted something, his words drowned out by the rotors. He jabbed a finger at Rice, then at the ground.

He wanted them to drop their weapons.

Rice shrugged his shoulders, mouthing, "What the hell's going on?"

The lead sailor jabbed his finger more emphatically.

Rice looked back at his SEALs and Nagamine. They all appeared as confused as he did. He then turned back to the Australians. The lead sailor still demanded they drop their weapons.

Teeth clenched, Rice weighed his options. In any other circumstances, he'd shoot it out with the enemy rather than be captured. But Australia was a US ally. He also worried about the Gyaos. The longer they stayed here, the greater the chance one of those monster birds would have them for dinner.

Fighting back his disgust, he placed his rifle on the ground, and ordered his men to do the same.

The Australians rushed forward. They secured the SEALS and Nagamine with plastic cuffs and loaded them onto the chopper.

Rice glanced out the open door, watching the ground recede. His emotions wavered between anger and confusion. A host of questions filtered through his mind. What happened to the _Kuroshio _and the _Reagan? _Why had that pilot, Beastmaster One, not known who Gamera was, then attack him? What was that other monster Gamera fought?

Most bewildering of all, why were they now prisoners of the Royal Australian Navy?

_**TO BE CONTINUED**_


	14. Chapter 14

Yamagata stopped in the doorway of the mess hall. Aside from the clinking of utensils and the occasional shuffle of a tray or chair, the room was quiet. Pilots and other personnel sat in small clusters at the long tables, not saying a word as they ate breakfast. A few just moved food around their plates. Yamagata wondered if similar scenes played out in mess halls in Japan and on the carrier _George Washington._

A hole formed in the pit of his stomach. He hadn't personally known any of the pilots who died in the attack on Iwo Jima. Still, he felt their loss. It mattered not if they came from America, Australia, Indonesia, Japan or the Philippines. They were all fighter pilots. They all knew every time they went into the sky, there was a chance they may not come back, whether it was due to combat or some accident.

Jaw set, Yamagata walked to the serving line and grabbed a tray. He took some rolls, rice porridge and corned beef, poured a cup of coffee, and headed for a table in the middle of the mess hall. The Beastmasters, minus Norris and Caputo, sat together. Like everyone else, they ate in silence.

He sat next to McGovern, glancing at a TV mounted to the front wall tuned to the Filipino network ABS-CBN. The sound was off, but the images showed an _Oniuingu _standing in the middle of a street with a bus in its jaws. The graphic read, _Vladivostok, Russia._

"Great way to start off the morning," Yamagata muttered.

The other Beastmasters followed his gaze to the TV.

"It gets worse," said "Blade" Sharpe. "They also hit Osaka, Busan and Shanghai."

Yamagata stabbed his fork into his corned beef, clenching the handle. Anger and guilt roiled within him. He lowered his head. How many people in Russia, Japan, South Korea, and China died because they failed to kill the damn _Oniuingu?_

"We need to get back in the air," said Lieutenant Kemp, Winter's weapons systems officer. "We need to make those SOBs extinct."

"Well, that won't happen until our planes get fixed." Blade sipped his coffee. "How's that going on your end, Ninja?"

"I talked to my crew before I came over here," replied Yamagata. "They should have new power couplings for the particle beams installed by this afternoon." He didn't bother mentioning the freeze ray. They all got the bad news shortly after returning to Atienza Air Base. The weapon needed a complete overhaul, and that could only be done back in the States.

"Even without your freeze ray, you came through this better than my poor plane," said Winter. Because of the damage to her wing, she hadn't been able to hook up with the tanker on the return flight to the Philippines. She had just enough fuel to reach Fuga Island north of Luzon and make a dead stick landing on its primitive dirt airstrip. Her freeze ray had also been damaged and her front landing gear had snapped off.

"You still walked away from it." McGovern spooned up some of his rice porridge. "That counts as a good landing."

Winter grinned. "Yeah, but we still have to wait for new landing gear to be flown in from back home, then chopper it up to Fuga. My crew chief says he might have my Excalibur airworthy by tomorrow, and that's a big might."

"Don't worry. We can handle those things without you." Blade nodded to the TV, which still show images from last night's _Oniuingu _attacks.

Winter lowered her fork and stared at the naval aviator. "Do I need to read between the lines of that comment?"

"If you want."

Blade ignored the Air Force pilot's glare and cut into his fish.

Yamagata's eyes flickered between the two. _We don't need this crap now. _

He opened his mouth to say something.

"Excuse me, Major?" said a female voice behind him.

He turned. A squat young woman with short brown hair and wearing an Airman Battle Uniform stood at attention. Yamagata recognized her as a member of General Torrez's staff.

"As you were, Lieutenant."

The woman, Schwabe according to her nametag, relaxed her posture.

"What is it?" asked Yamagata.

"General Torrez wants to see you, sir. Please follow me."

Yamagata stifled a grunt. He'd barely touched his breakfast.

Grabbing a couple of rolls, he stood, taking a final sip of coffee. "Someone put this in a doggie bag for me." He nodded to his food.

"I got you covered, Ninja," said McGovern.

"Thanks." Yamagata looked from Blade to Winter. "And you two play nice."

He followed Schwabe out of the mess hall. The lieutenant led him to a rectangular Delta Mini Cruiser driven by a Filipino airman. Yamagata used the short trip to the admin building to polish off his rolls.

Schwabe escorted him to the second floor, where General Torrez has set up his office. The door was open. Still, Schwabe knocked.

"Sir, Major Yamagata's here." She stepped aside and let him in.

"Thank you, Lieutenant. Shut the door."

Schwabe nodded and closed the door.

Torrez pointed Yamagata to one of two metal folding chairs in front of the desk. He sat.

"I assume you've seen the news this morning," said the 1st Joint Special Combat Squadron commander.

"The _Oniuingu _attacks? Yes, sir. My groundcrew says they should have my Excalibur ready to go by this afternoon."

"Well that's good to hear. Given how active these new kaiju are, we need all the jets we can get."

"What about reinforcements?" asked Yamagata.

Torrez folded his hands on his desk. "The _Stennis _is being redeployed from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific, but it won't be in theater for at least ten days. The Navy's rushing to get the _Carl Vinson _underway from San Diego, but it might take longer from them to get here."

"What about the Air Force? They can get some planes here quicker."

"The Pentagon says they should be deploying two fighter squadrons to the Philippines in the next forty-eight hours."

Yamagata frowned. "I'd like to have more."

"So would I." Torrez's shoulders sagged a bit. "But the Joint Chiefs also want to make sure we have enough aircraft available in case the _Oniuingu _attack the homeland. And let's face it, Major, between Gigan and Civil War Two, we don't have a whole hell of a lot of reinforcements available."

Yamagata's face tightened. Torrez, unfortunately, was right. All the attacks by Gigan and the battles between government and anti-Zamora forces had left American airpower severely depleted.

"I did get word," Torrez continued, "that the Russians and Chinese are sending their carrier groups to join us in any future anti-_Oniuingu _operations."

The news caused deep lines to dig into Yamagata's forehead. He managed to keep from shaking his head.

General Torrez seemed to read his mind, since he said, "I know. I don't trust them either, but right now, bolstering our air power is our top priority. We can't afford to be picky about where the planes come from."

"Yes, sir. Maybe we'll luck out and Godzilla will make another appearance. Lord knows we can use him, especially since we have both the _Oniuingu _and that damn flying turtle to deal with."

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about, the turtle."

"Did we find him?" Yamagata slid forward in his chair.

"No." Torrez shook his head. "We have subs sweeping the area where Godzilla and the turtle fought, but they haven't found any sign of them. We did, however, find that SEAL, or supposed SEAL, you were in contact with."

"Jim Rice? Where's he at?"

"The Australian Navy picked him up, along with five other men who claim to be SEALs and a female Japanese civilian."

Yamagata's face scrunched in puzzlement. What was a Japanese woman doing with a bunch of US Navy SEALs?

_Or whoever the hell they really are. _The Navy had not authorized any SEAL operations on Iwo Jima.

"They're all being detained on a frigate," Torrez continued. "_HMAS Ballarat. _I want you to fly out there and question them."

"Me, sir? Why?"

"In your report, you said Rice referred to the turtle as Gamera."

"That's correct," said Yamagata. "He also mentioned a Gyaos and a Thulgira. Maybe they're other monsters, but I never heard of them."

"That's why I want you talk to Rice, see what he knows about that giant turtle, or Gamera. I want to make sure we know as much as we can about it if we have to fight it again."

"You know I'm not a trained interrogator, sir."

Torrez turned up his palms. "All you have to do is ask some questions. How difficult can that be, Major?"

Yamagata nodded. "I'll see what I can get out of him."

"Good. A COD will fly you to the _Washington_." Torrez referred to the Carrier Onboard Delivery plane. "Then you'll be choppered over to the _Ballarat. _You better pack quickly, because your plane's due to land in an hour."

_**TO BE CONTINUED**_


	15. Chapter 15

Yamagata stared out the window of the Seahawk helicopter. The sleek form of the _HMAS Ballarat _cut through the waves about a mile ahead. He pressed his hands on his knees, going over the questions he planned to ask Rice in his head. Just like General Torrez had said, it wasn't too difficult. Yamagata had only three basic questions to pose to the supposed SEAL.

_Who the hell are you really . . . Why were you on Iwo Jima . . . Why did you call that giant turtle Gamera?_

He wondered if Rice would give him a straight answer or jerk him around.

The Seahawk set down on the aft landing pad. Yamagata removed his helmet and handed it to the crew chief.

"Thanks for the ride."

The Aussie nodded and opened the side door. Yamagata jumped out, bending at the waist as he hurried away from the chopper. The fierce wind from the rotors pounded him. Ahead of him, a tall man with a neatly trimmed brown beard stood at entrance of the hangar bay. He wore beige, blue and gray splotched fatigues.

"Major Yamagata?" the man had to shout over the Seahawk's rotors.

"Yes?"

"Lieutenant Commander Harman, Executive Officer."

"A pleasure, Commander." Yamagata shook his hand.

"Follow me." Harman led him through the hangar and into the ship's narrow corridors.

Finally away from the noise of the helicopter, Yamagata asked, "Have the prisoners given you any trouble?"

"Aside from the usual protestations of innocence, no."

"Have they told you who they really are or why they were on Iwo?"

Harman started up a ladder as he replied, "The men maintain they're US Navy SEALs. The Japanese woman claims to be some sort of expert on those flying monsters. They call them Gyaos."

Yamagata followed the Aussie up the ladder. "Well, it's a shorter and easier name than _Oniuingu."_

"I won't argue with you there."

When they reached the top, Harman turned to him, pulling out an iPad. "They all say they were on a reconnaissance mission to gather intelligence on the _Oniuingu, _or Gyaos, whichever you prefer. That part of their story seems to be true. We downloaded these images from the woman's camera."

The XO held out his iPad for Yamagata to see. He leaned closer, tapping the screen to cycle through the photographs, which appeared to have been taken in a cave. Each image made his throat tighten in dread.

"There have to be hundreds of eggs in there."

"Along with a monster that looks like it's about to pump out a lot more," Harman noted.

Yamagata looked up at the XO. "Have you authenticated these photos?"

"We've had our imagery specialists look them over. They didn't find anything to indicate these are fake."

"Mm-hmm." Yamagata turned back to the photos, taking in a slow breath. He felt a shiver of fear when he thought about those eggs hatching, spawning hundreds more _Oniuingu. _

"What about the woman who took these?" he asked Harman. "Have you been able to find out anything about her?"

"She says her name is Doctor Mayumi Nagamine, an ornithologist with a university in Japan."

"Is she?" asked Yamagata.

"We forwarded her information to the Japanese National Police Agency. The university she claims to work for has no record of her ever being on staff. But . . ." Harman tapped his iPad. "They did find a Doctor Mayumi Nagamine working for a pharmaceutical company in Yokohama."

He turned the screen so Yamagata could see. His eyebrows scrunched together as he stared at the side-by-side photos, one probably taken by the Australians, the other from the NPA.

They both showed the same woman.

"So what's a woman who works for a drug outfit doing on Iwo Jima with a bunch of guys who claim to be Navy SEALs? And why is saying she's a kaiju expert?"

Harman bit his lip. "I'm afraid that's not the case."

Yamagata looked at him, tilting his head. "What do you mean?"

"The Japanese police confirmed Mayumi Nagamine's whereabouts." Harman laid the tip on his index finger on the headshot from the NPA. "She is currently in her lab in Yokohama."

Yamagata's face scrunched in bewilderment. He stared silently at Lieutenant Commander Harman, still trying to comprehend what he'd just said.

"So who the hell is the woman you have?" Yamagata glanced back at the side-by-side photos. "I mean, these two could be identical twins."

"We considered that. According to the Japanese police, Doctor Nagamine does have one sister, but she's five years older."

Again, Yamagata's eyes shifted between the two photos of Mayumi Nagamine, trying to find any sort of difference in their features.

There was none.

He took a breath, mentally regrouping. "Okay, what about Rice and his men? Anything more on them?"

"Your Defense Department sent over some information." Harman cleared the screen of the photos of Nagamine. "Three of the men, Felix Soto, Brian Candaele and Nurul Mongkut, show no record of ever having served in any branch of the United States Armed Forces."

"And the other three?"

"Well, Mister Rice gave us the names of two senior officers he apparently knows, Captain Alec Marshall and Rear Admiral Cole Breeden."

"What did they have to say?" asked Yamagata.

Harman waited to return the salutes of two passing sailors before answering. "The Admiral retired two years ago. When the Pentagon asked him about Rice and the others, he said he never heard of them. Now Captain Marshall is a slightly different story."

"He knows them?"

"One of them at any rate. William Lonborg. They served in the same SEAL team."

"And now?"

"Marshall's commander of SEAL Team Three, just like Rice told us. The real William Lonborg, however, is currently an instructor at BUDS." Harman used the acronym for Basic Underwater Demolition SEAL school.

"After seeing Doctor Nagamine's pictures," Harman continued, "this probably won't surprise you."

The XO held his iPad in front of Yamagata.

_No way. _His eyes widened as he stared at the RAN's photo of Lonborg and the one from the Pentagon. They both showed the exact same man.

_How is this possible? _Yamagata slowly blinked, not even looking at Harman as he spoke. "What about Rice and the other man?"

"There is a Lieutenant Commander Jim Rice serving with the U.S. Navy, but not as a SEAL. At this moment, he's somewhere beneath the Atlantic Ocean assigned as weapons officer aboard the _USS Olympia."_

"Lemme guess. If you show me a picture of him, he'll look exactly like the guy you've got here."

"For the most part." Harman showed Yamagata the side-by-side pics. The face of submariner Jim Rice seemed fuller, fleshier, than the supposed SEAL Jim Rice.

"What about the last guy?"

"Hank Warthan," said Harman. "He was a SEAL."

"Did he retire?"

Harman shook his head. "Killed in action in Afghanistan, ten years ago. And he's the spitting image of the Warthan in our brig, though a bit younger."

Yamagata leaned against the bulkhead, shoulders sagging. "Just what the hell is going on here?"

"Believe me, I'd like to know, too."

Exhaling, Yamagata pushed himself off the bulkhead. "Well, we're not gonna find out by standing around here. Commander, I'd like to talk to Rice." He paused. "Actually, I want to talk to both Rice and Doctor Nagamine."

"Of course." Harman grabbed a nearby phone and ordered a detail to escort Jim Rice and Mayumi Nagamine to a conference room near the captain's cabin. He led Yamagata there.

When they arrived, two Australian sailors stood by the door, clutching rifles.

"Call me if you need anything," said Harman.

"Thank you, Commander."

Yamagata asked to borrow the iPad, then shook the XO's hand. He turned to the door, straightened and opened it.

Rice and Nagamine sat at the table, their wrists bound by plastic cuffs. Both looked up as he entered.

"Who the hell are you?" Rice scowled at him.

"Major Jeff Yamagata, United States Marine Corps. But you probably know me as Beastmaster One."

Rice's eyes widened in recognition. "You were the guy we were talking to on Iwo Jima?"

"That's right."

"So, can you tell me what the hell we did to piss off the Australians like this?" Rice held up his bound wrists.

"Actually, I have more important things to talk to you about." Yamagata took a seat across from the pair.

"Like what?" demanded Rice.

Yamagata removed a slim, digital tape recorder from his pocket. He activated it and placed it in the center of the table.

"Who are you two, why were you on Iwo Jima, and why did you call that giant turtle Gamera?" Yamagata stared Rice directly in the eyes. "Start talking."

_**TO BE CONTINUED**_


	16. Chapter 16

Yamagata hadn't been in the room for a minute, and already Rice didn't like the guy. Hell, he didn't like anyone on this damn ship. How hard could it be for the Australians to confirm all their identities?

Rice let out a long, frustrated breath. He aimed his narrowed eyes at Yamagata. "For the fiftieth time, my name is Lieutenant Commander Jim Rice. I'm with SEAL Team Three. This is Doctor Mayumi Nagamine, who's probably the world's leading expert on the Gyaos."

"That's what you call those flying monsters, right?" asked Yamagata.

"That's what _everyone _calls them." Rice wanted to throw up his arms for emphasis. The plastic cuffs made that impossible.

"And what about the turtle? Why do you call it Gamera?" Yamagata's eyes shifted between Rice and Nagamine.

"Because that's his name." _Duh. _Rice, somehow, restrained himself from saying that out loud.

Yamagata's face stiffened. Again, his gaze flickered between them. Rice imagined the hamster wheel working inside the Marine's head.

"These Gyaos." Yamagata intertwined his fingers and rested them on the table. "Where do they come from?"

Nagamine's face crinkled in a puzzled look. Rice couldn't blame her. Everyone knew about the Gyaos.

_Except this jarhead, apparently._

Nagamine shrugged her shoulders. "They were created by an ancient civilization hundreds of thousands of years ago."

"Uh-huh," Yamagata muttered. He tilted his head and cranked an eyebrow, as if debating whether to believe her or not. "What are their capabilities?"

Rice felt lines etch deep into his forehead. Why would Yamagata ask a question like that? All US military personnel had extensive briefings on both the Gyaos and Gamera.

Nagamine also looked confused, like she thought Yamagata should know.

Silence hung in the air for many long seconds before Yamagata turned to Nagamine. "I thought you were supposed to be the expert on these things. What, suddenly you don't know?"

Nagamine's lips pressed together in annoyance. She took a slow breath before speaking. "The Gyaos can fly as fast as two hundred and fifty miles per hour. Their sonic beams can cut through concrete and steel. They are mainly nocturnal. What else do you want to know?"

"Why are they on Iwo Jima?"

"They are building a nest. That is why they are attacking cities, to collect food for their young when they hatch."

Yamagata nodded. "And you were on Iwo Jima to gather intel on them?"

"Yes," Nagamine replied.

The Marine looked to Rice. "And what about Gamera? Where did he come from and what are his capabilities?"

Rice opened his mouth, then stopped himself from talking. Suspicion buzzed in the back of his mind. Why was Yamagata asking questions everyone on Earth should know the answers to? The guy acted like the Gyaos and Gamera had just been discovered. It made no sense.

Just like it made no sense to be kept prisoner on an Australian frigate.

Rice leaned back in his chair. "You want to know all about Gamera? Look him up on Wikipedia. You have heard of Wikipedia, right?"

The skin around Yamagata's nose wrinkled in a harsh expression.

Rice leaned forward, unsmiling. "I am sick and tired of this bullshit. Now you put a phone in my hand, and let me call Admiral Breeden -"

"The Pentagon already did that." Yamagata interrupted him. "Admiral Breeden retired two years ago, and he never heard of you or any of your men."

Face scrunched, Rice drew his head back. _This guy has to be out of his mind. _Admiral Breeden, retired? The man was on the _Ronald Reagan _right now, probably wondering what happened to him and his SEALs.

"Not only that." Yamagata leaned forward. "But the Pentagon confirmed that the _real _Jim Rice is the weapons officer on the Los Angeles-class attack sub _USS Olympia."_

He tapped an iPad and turned it so Rice could see.

_What the hell?_

His eyes widened as he stared at the side-by-side photos. One of him taken by the Australians shortly after they brought him aboard the _Ballarat, _the other . . .

Well, it did look like him, if he traded his muscles for flab.

"And you, Doctor Nagamine." Yamagata tapped the iPad again. "According to the Japanese authorities, you are working in a lab for a drug company in Yokohama."

He showed her another set of side-by-side photos.

Nagamine's mouth opened slowly. She shook her head. "I do not . . . I do not understand. I do not work for a drug company. I never took a picture like this." She pointed to what looked like a corporate ID photo of her. "This is wrong."

"It's not wrong," said Rice. "It's called photoshop."

He swung his head back to Yamagata. Concern clung to his anger. He had no idea what was going on, but whatever it was, it couldn't be good for him, his SEALs or Dr. Nagamine.

"It's called proving you two are liars." Yamagata shifted his head from Nagamine to Rice. "So why are you using the names of a submariner and a drug researcher?"

Rice snorted. "You still don't believe I'm a SEAL. Well, guess what? I don't believe you're a Marine fighter pilot."

"Funny." Yamagata did not smile.

"Oh, I'll tell you what's really funny," said Rice. "A supposed Marine Corps officer who never heard of a bunch of flying monsters that attacked Japan a few years back, and also never heard of the giant fire-breathing turtle who defeated them. The same turtle who also stopped a giant alien monster that also attacked Japan, and stopped another giant monster the North Koreans used try and conquer South Korea."

Yamagata's brow furrowed. A doubtful look settled on his face.

Rice chuckled. "I'm gonna go out on a limb and say you never heard of those other things, either. I mean, why would you? They were only the biggest news stories of . . . well, all time." He held up his bound hands. "Lemme guess. You're one of those people you see on those man on the street interviews. You know, the morons who don't know why we celebrate the Fourth of July or don't know how many states there are in the United States."

Yamagata's eyes narrowed.

Rice just grinned.

A half-minute of silence passed before Yamagata got up. He slammed his hands on the table. Nagamine jumped. Rice didn't move a muscle.

"Keep making jokes, asshole." Yamagata spoke in a low tone. "Sooner or later, we are going to find out who you are and what you're up to."

Rice bit back a belly laugh. It was so amusing to see a Marine – _if Yamagata really is a Marine – _think he could intimidate a SEAL.

"I hope you like the brig on this ship." Yamagata headed to the door. "'Cause you're going to be there a long time."

"Well, if you can lay your hands on a six-pack of Coors and a stack of Playboys for me, I'll be fine."

Yamagata gave him a parting glare before exiting the conference room.

Rice leaned back in his chair. "Asshole."

**XXXXX**

Yamagata had one of the guards call for Lieutenant Commander Harman, who led him to the _Ballarat's _combat information centre. Like all CICs he'd ever been in, this one was dimly lit with rows of consoles and several screens mounted to the bulkheads. The comms officer patched him through to General Torrez back at Atienza Air Base in the Philippines.

"I take it you interrogated Rice," the 1st JSCS commander asked.

"Him and the Japanese woman, Mayumi Nagamine."

"Were you able to determine anything?"

"Forgive my language, sir," replied Yamagata, "but I determined that they're both batshit crazy."

_**TO BE CONTINUED**_


	17. Chapter 17

"Look at the way these things turn." Blade pointed at the wall monitor in the pilots briefing room. "They may not be as fast as Rodan, but they sure are more maneuverable."

The half-a-dozen other coalition pilots around him nodded as they watched the footage from the gun camera on Blade's Excalibur.

"This is what gets me." Lieutenant, Junior Grade Norris froze the screen, which showed the heads of _Oniuingu _sticking out of the summit of Mount Suribachi. "These things remind me of soldiers in foxholes. Pop up, fire a few rounds, then duck back down."

"Actual combat tactics," said a lean, dark-haired man with a round face. "Maybe these miniature Rodans are smarter than we thought."

"Could be." Blade nodded to Captain James Cahill, the CO of the Royal Australian Air Force contingent.

Letting out a breath, Blade hit the play button on his remote control. His eyes swept over the screen, trying to pick out strengths and weaknesses of these new kaiju. He wanted to be better prepared next time he engaged them, him and every other pilot on this base.

"So this is where everyone's hanging out."

Blade and the others turned around. A groan percolated in his throat when he saw Captain "Winter" Snow in the doorway.

"We're just going over our gun camera footage from Iwo Jima, ma'am," said Sergeant Craig Essian, Blade's sensor systems operator. "See what we can find out about the _Oniuingu."_

Winter stood arms akimbo, unsmiling. "Thanks for inviting me."

"We were going to share with everyone when we were done analyzing it." Blade turned back to the monitor. He hit rewind on the remote, wanting to make sure he didn't miss anything.

"You want to air this out now, or what?" Winter spoke in a demanding tone.

Blade spun around, his eyes narrowed. Winter met his hard gaze.

"Um, perhaps we should all be some place else," suggested Cahill.

"Some place far from here," added Major Epi Fajardo from the Philippines Air Force.

The coalition pilots filed out of the briefing room, Winter's attention still on Blade as they passed by her.

Blade looked at both Norris and Essian. He nodded toward the door.

"Good luck," Norris whispered to him as he and Essian departed.

Winter crossed the room, standing just a couple of feet from Blade. "You know, the Civil War ended over ten months ago."

"Of course I know. I was at the Battle of Miami . . . to help end it."

Winter emitted a humorless laugh. "Lemme guess. If you didn't fight at Miami, you're a worthless piece of crap."

"A lot of people who opposed Zamora didn't fight at Miami," said Blade. "But they did something to take a stand against him."

Shaking her head, Winter let out a slow breath through her nostrils. "You want me to admit I was duped by the SOB? Fine, I was duped. So were a lot of other people in the military. Are you going to be pissed at them, too?"

"Maybe."

Winter glanced at the floor for a moment. She ground her toe into the tile before speaking. "Okay, I get it. You're still angry because of what happened to you."

"What happened to me?" Blade slapped his sides. "You really think it's all about me? Poor little Lieutenant Ty Sharpe spends a couple of weeks in a CEMCOR prison camp. Oh, woe is me."

"Fine." Winter snapped. "It's not about you. I know your previous 'Whizzo' was killed when CEMCOR stormed your base." She used the slang for WSO. "So I can understand why you'd still be pissed at anyone who didn't oppose President Zamora."

"You don't understand shit. Hell yeah what happened to Anderson burns me up inside. But that ain't all."

Blade's shoulders rose slowly. All his fury over the events of the Civil War pushed to the surface. "He wasn't the only friend I lost. I watched Burner and his crew go down over Miami. Plane burning, falling to pieces, no way for any of them to get out."

A lump formed in his throat as the memory played out in his mind. He fought through it and continued. "And even that isn't the be all and end all of it."

Blade stepped closer to Winter. "I must have flown over a dozen cities left in ruin by Gigan. Millions dead, millions more injured or displaced. How many of those dead and wounded were poor folks or people Zamora thought were 'oppressed?' The very people he claimed to want to help? How many of our fellow pilots died fighting Gigan? How many people ended up in prison camps just because they thought differently than Zamora and his CEMCOR scumbags."

Blade took a breath. It seemed to fuel his anger more. "And why did all that happen? Because Horatio Zamora thought he was too good to stick to two terms as president, like it says in the Constitution. Because he thought he knew what was best for this country, and Lord help you if you didn't agree with him."

His jaw clenched as images from the Second Civil War flashed through his mind. Blade brushed past Winter, stopped, and turned to her. "Maybe if more people saw Zamora for the tyrant he was, we could have ended the war sooner, and saved more people."

He headed for the door, fury and sorrow wrestling inside him.

"Bob Lamb."

Blade turned back to Winter. "What?"

"Bob Lamb." She shifted around to face him. "Gene Walker. Frank Davalillo. Charlotte Buskey. Todd Garvin."

Winter strode up to Blade. "You weren't the only one who lost friends."

He tried to meet her gaze, but instead glanced at the wall to his left.

"You think I'm not carrying around my own baggage," Winter continued. "You think I didn't have doubts about what President Zamora was doing? I heard the stories about all the arrests, the media outlets getting shut down. I didn't agree with a lot of it, but we were in the middle of a national emergency. Gigan was laying waste to the country, and then Zamora came out with his story about the coup attempt. I thought it was all necessary, and I took an oath to obey the orders of my commander-in-chief."

Her face tightened. Winter stared at the floor, drawing a slow breath. Blade said nothing.

Winter lifted her head and continued. "You have no idea how mad I was, how betrayed I felt, when everything came out about Zamora." She shook her head. "I thought he was trying to get the country through one of the greatest crises in its history, and I thought I was playing a part in that. Then I learned he was the one who caused it. He was the one who controlled Gigan. He was the one responsible for killing my friends and millions of others."

Tears glistened in Winter's eyes. They didn't spill onto her cheeks. "We're supposed to fight dictators, and here I ended up unknowingly following one. Even worse than that was the looks I got from other people in the Air Force, the ones who opposed Zamora. People I'd been friends with for years looked at me like I was a traitor. I started to think, maybe they're right. Pretty soon I started spending most of my off-duty hours with a bottle instead of actual human beings."

Blade's brow furrowed. "You're an alcoholic?"

"I never drank the night before I was scheduled to fly, and believe me, some nights it was hard not to. But my boyfriend dragged me to AA." Winter grinned. "Been sober for four months."

"And Ninja approved you for the Beastmasters in spite of that?"

"He doesn't know about it. No one knows about it."

"I do," said Blade. "What makes you think I won't go to Ninja and tell him you're a boozehound?"

"Call it a trust exercise." Winter stepped closer to him. "We've been in combat together twice. Have you seen anything to suggest I'm a detriment to this squadron?"

Blade thought about it. It pained him to admit it, but Winter had given a good accounting of herself in both engagements with the _Oniuingu._

"No," he finally answered her.

"Well now I'm trusting you with this secret, and I also trust that if you see me stumbling to my Excalibur smelling like a bar on a Saturday night, you'll yank me off the flightline and report me to our superiors."

"You can count on that."

Winter nodded. "We're a small unit, Blade. If we all don't trust one another, we're gonna fall apart, and we'll be the ones other people mourn."

Blade just stared at her in silence. He had a lot to digest. He also wanted to hold on to that anger. How the hell could he forgive anyone who didn't stand against Zamora?

_How can you ignore someone who bared her soul like that?_

"Oh, there you are."

Blade turned to find Captain Nicole Fox standing in the doorway of the briefing room. "What's up?"

"I think found out where our new monsters, and those SEALs Jeff was talking to, came from."

"Where?" asked Blade.

"Follow me," said Nicole, "and get ready to have your minds blown."

Blade and Winter followed Nicole to one of the conference rooms in the admin building. General Torrez was also there, along with a few senior officers from the Philippines, Australian and Indonesian air forces.

"So what's the big reveal?" asked Blade.

Nicole sat at the table, a laptop in front of her. She tapped on the keyboard. An image of Iwo Jima appeared on the wall monitor.

"You remember that glitch in the Global Hawk's feed before the attack?" she asked.

"Yeah." Winter nodded. "It was like the whole island vanished for a split second."

"Well, I had the groundcrew run a diagnostic on all three Excaliburs. They found nothing in the sensors or network-centric systems that could have caused that kind of malfunction. I also checked with the Global Hawk crew at Beale Air Force Base. They double and triple-checked their systems. According to them, everything is working fine."

A lanky Indonesian pilot wrinkled his brow. "Are you suggesting that Iwo Jima did disappear?"

"I'm getting to that, sir," Nicole answered Major Sukadana. "My people have been analyzing all the comm traffic in and around Iwo Jima. We intercepted several transmissions from those SEALs Major Yamagata contacted yesterday. There were two vessels they tried to hail repeatedly. One was the carrier _Ronald Reagan, _the other was a Japanese submarine, the _Kuroshio."_

"That doesn't make sense." Blade tilted his head. "The _Reagan's _not even in the Pacific."

"I know," said Nicole. "She's currently docked in Norfolk. She's not due to sail again for another three months. I also checked with the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force. The _Kuroshio _is docked in Kure right now."

Winter's face scrunched in confusion. "So why try to contact ships that aren't even at sea?"

Nicole held up a finger. "The answer's coming, and believe me, this is where we start to enter a _Twilight Zone _level of weird."

Blade shifted his weight from one foot to the other. His curiosity piqued, wondering what bombshell Yamagata's girlfriend might drop.

"There were some other transmissions we intercepted." Nicole tapped on her laptop. An audio file with bright green lines appeared on the main monitor. The sound followed a few seconds later. Two men in radio contact with each other. Neither spoke English.

"Is that Russian?" asked Winter.

"Affirmative. And here's the translation."

Nicole let the audio play again. This time, computer generated words appeared beneath the green lines.

_Gagana, Vulcan Seven._

_Seven. Go._

_We have completed second pass over target. Again, no sign of Gyaos._

"Gyaos." Blade turned to Nicole. "Rice used that word, too."

Nicole nodded. "I had Air Force Intelligence review the transmission. They said the engine noise in the background sounds like an AL-31F3."

"That's the engine used by the SU-33," Blade pointed out. "The Russians' carrier-based fighter."

"Except the _Kuznetsov_ isn't due to be in theater for two days," said Torrez.

Blade's face scrunched in bewilderment. How the hell could Nicole's SIGINT people pick up transmissions from planes and ships that were nowhere near Iwo Jima?

_She's right. This is _Twilight Zone _weird._

"And now, the _piece de resistance._" Nicole brought up another audio file. This time, it was in English.

"Seahawk Three-Five to SEAL Team, do you read. SEAL Team, do you read? This is United States Navy helicopter Seahawk Three-Five. Respond. Over."

Nicole took a long breath before speaking. "That transmission was picked up at zero two forty this morning. We checked. There were no coalition aircraft over Iwo Jima at that time."

Blade drew his head back in surprise. "So where are these radio calls coming from?"

"I got in touch with a friend of mine at Caltech. She's a space physicist. I told her everything I told you, including the fact that when the Global Hawk controllers reviewed their data, they found elevated electromagnetic and radiation readings around Iwo Jima after the anomaly."

Winter cringed. "We're not going to need chemotherapy soon, are we?"

"No." Nicole shook her head. "The radiation readings weren't in the danger zone. But putting all those factors together, my friend could only come to one conclusion."

"Which is?" asked Blade.

Nicole scanned the small audience before responding. "The new kaiju, along with Commander Rice and his friends, all come from a parallel Earth."

_**TO BE CONTINUED**_


	18. Chapter 18

"A parallel Earth? Are you sure?" Yamagata scrunched his face and tilted his head. He stared unblinking at the monitor in the _Ballarat's _Combat Information Center, which showed Nicole's face.

"I know it sounds really out there, but that's the only thing we could come up with. New monsters popping up out of nowhere, radio transmissions with no visible sources, and Iwo Jima actually disappearing. Sorry I don't have a simpler explanation for you."

"You'll forgive me if I say this theory sounds far-fetched," said the stocky, balding man next to Yamagata. Commander Grant Voutas, _Ballarat's _CO.

"I agree, sir," Nicole nodded, "but that's where all the evidence points. Islands don't just wink out of existence, and you'd think someone would have seen those _Oniuingu _or the fire-breathing turtle a lot sooner."

Yamagata glanced at Voutas. The skipper drew a slow breath, his jaw stiff. He looked like he forcing himself to accept what Nicole had told him.

"So what do we do about the SEALs and the woman in our brig?" asked Voutas.

Nicole shifted to her right as General Torrez came into the frame. "Our government's been talking to your government about that. We want to see them released. Those people could have invaluable information about these new kaiju."

"What about me, sir?" asked Yamagata. "Do you want me back in the Philippines?"

"Negative. Remain on _Ballarat. _Find out everything they know about . . . Gamera and the Gyaos. Hopefully they'll be more talkative if we stop treating them as prisoners, or mental patients."

"I don't think I endeared myself to Commander Rice at our first meeting," Yamagata pointed out.

Torrez let out a soft chuckle. "I think you can rectify that, Major. After all, a lot of people around here think you're a likable guy."

Yamagata spotted Nicole grinning at the statement.

"Yes, sir."

"Let me know what you find out from Rice and others. Torrez out."

The monitor went black.

A few minutes later, a CIS – Communications and Information Systems – sailor held up a telephone and called for Voutas. "It's the Department of Defence."

He walked over to the console and took the handset. "Captain Voutas . . . Yes, sir . . . The Americans just told us that . . . Yes, sir . . . Yes, sir, I'll see to it at once."

Voutas handed the phone back to the sailor and turned to Yamagata. "It's official. My superiors have authorized me to release the SEALs and Ms. Nagamine."

Yamagata nodded. "So who gets to break the news to them that they're on another Earth?"

"They're American, with one exception. I'd say the burden falls on you, Major."

Yamagata responded with half-grin. "Lucky me."

**XXXXX**

Rice sat against the bulkhead of the brig, staring through the bars. On the other side, one Aussie sailor sat at a desk. Another one stood by the hatchway, holding an F88 rifle. The word "escape" kept flashing through Rice's mind, even though he'd dismissed it as a realistic option a long time ago.

It was just the six of them – as an untrained civilian, he didn't count Nagamine – against roughly 170 sailors. Even if they did bust out and make it past _Ballarat's _crew, what then? They were in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, nothing but water for hundreds of miles in every direction.

Rice briefly considered breaking out, taking hostages, and demanding off this tub. But he knew the majority of hostage situations usually didn't end well for the hostage takers. Australia also had the Offshore Assault Team, which specialized in retaking hijacked ships. He had cross-trained with those guys a few years ago. To say they were damn good would be an understatement.

Rice pressed his back harder against the bulkhead. All he could do was hope the ship made land at some point, then they could look for an opportunity to escape.

_Or someone in Washington wakes up and says, "Hey, the Australians have one of our SEAL teams. We should do something about that."_

Unfortunately, he didn't hold out much hope for that, going by his experience with government bureaucracy.

_It could be worse. _They hadn't been mistreated. The Aussies fed them and provided them with fresh clothes. Rice did not get any vibe that they might shoot all of them and throw them to the sharks at any moment.

Two people entered the brig. One had to be _Ballarat's _CO, judging by his shoulder boards. The other was Major Yamagata.

Both sailors snapped to attention.

"Seaman Stine," the captain addressed the sailor at the desk.

"Sir."

"Release Commander Rice and his men, and Doctor Nagamine. They are no longer our prisoners. They are now our guests_."_

"Aye, sir."

"Well now things are looking up," Senior Chief Warthan said from the next cell.

Rice watched Stine grab the keys from the desk and walk to his cell. His joy at being released was tempered by puzzlement and anger. Why the hell had they been prisoners in the first place?

Seaman Stine opened the cell doors. The captain stepped over to them, as did Yamagata.

"Commander. I'm Captain Voutas, CO of the _Ballarat."_ He shook Rice's hand. "On behalf of the Royal Australian Navy, I wish to express my sincerest apologies for detaining you and your men, and you as well, Doctor Nagamine."

"Thank you, Captain," said Rice. "Now if you'll excuse my tone, why the hell were we in the brig in the first place?"

"I can certainly understand you being upset. I'll let Major Yamagata explain."

Voutas stepped to side.

Yamagata moved closer to Rice. He noticed the Marine pilot was a hair shorter than him, and he didn't even break the six foot mark.

"I'm also sorry you were thrown in the brig, but it wasn't until a few minutes ago that we learned where you, and those new monsters, really come from."

Rice drew his head back. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Yamagata stared at the deck for a moment, then looked back at him. He took a slow breath. To Rice, it seemed like the guy was stalling. He wanted to yell, "Out with it already!"

"You better brace yourself," Yamagata finally spoke. "You're on another Earth."

Rice blinked. Disbelief surged through him. He saw Lonborg and Warthan look at one another with scrunched, confused faces. Nagamine's eyes went wide shock.

"Another Earth?" Rice said in a deliberate tone. "You're serious?"

"I am." Yamagata nodded. "I know it's hard to swallow."

"Hard to swallow. It's a load of crap."

"Oh shit," Soto blurted. "The laser plane. That has to be it."

Yamagata stared at him, brow furrowed. "What laser plane?"

"The one the Japanese built. They used it over Tokyo when the Gyaos attacked. Then they sent it to Iwo Jima, but it blew up." Soto shifted his attention to Rice. "I told you that was no ordinary explosion. It would also explain why we couldn't raise the _Reagan _or the _Kuroshio, _and why the Major here didn't know who Gamera and the Gyaos were."

Rice's lips pressed together. _There has to be some other explanation. _But Soto had a point, especially with the laser plane. He'd never seen an explosion like that in his life.

He also thought about the photos Yamagata had shown him and Nagamine, the Marine not knowing about Gamera or the Second Korean War.

_Why would anyone go through an elaborate ruse like that?_

"How is that possible?" asked Nagamine. "How could that explosion send us to another Earth?"

"Yeah," Candaele jumped in. "Last time I checked, lasers don't open portals to other world, they just blast the hell out of stuff."

"Which means whatever the Japanese used, it wasn't a laser." Soto held up a finger for emphasis. "What if . . . what if they actually built a weapon that could send the Gyaos to another dimension?"

"How the hell could they do that?" demanded Warthan.

"I don't know, Senior Chief." Soto shrugged. "But remember in Tokyo. When that plane blasted the Gyaos, they didn't disintegrate. There was no trace of them at all, not a single ash. They were just wiped from existence. Or if what the Major says is true, they were transported to another Earth. This one, obviously."

"When did that attack on Tokyo happen?" asked Yamagata.

"Five days ago."

"Which is right around the time of the first _Oniuingu _attack, or Gyaos attack, I guess."

"So if this parallel Earth theory is true," said Captain Voutas, "There shouldn't have been any _Oniuingu _around before Iwo Jima . . . winked out."

Rice swallowed, wanting desperately not to believe this insanity. But with all the evidence mounting up . . .

He fought off a shiver, thinking about Rita and their unborn child.

"Major, if some . . . accident brought us here, how do we get back to our Earth?"

Yamagata stiffened before he replied. "Honestly, Commander, I don't know."

_**TO BE CONTINUED**_


	19. Chapter 19

_There has to be another explanation for this._

Rice stood with his arms folded, staring at Soto, who sat in front of a computer in _Ballarat's _library. Even with all the evidence Yamagata had shown him, he still had a hard time accepting it. He wanted to think this was some elaborate trick.

_But why? _Why would someone want to convince them they were on another Earth? Rice entertained the notion the U.S. and the Australian governments wanted his pendant to find out how he bonded with Gamera.

_If that was true, they could just order me to hand it over, and when I didn't, they could just lock me up and take it._

His throat clenched. He thought of Rita, thought about the baby inside her. Would he ever see them again?

Rice's thoughts turned to his men. They all had families. Both Lonborg and Warthan were divorced, but had children. He guessed Nagamine had family, too.

He looked around at the SEALs and Nagamine. None of them appeared distressed. Still, he knew they had to be worried they'd never see their loved ones again. Whether highly trained warrior or brilliant scientist, they were still human.

"Well," Soto turned to face them, "I think I've come up with a bare bones history of this world."

"What did you find?" asked Rice

"A lot of their history seems similar to ours. American Revolution, two World Wars, the Cold War . . . twenty-seven world championships for the New York Yankees. Sorry, sir."

A New England native, Rice couldn't help but get pissed off. _You'd think we could at least come to another Earth where the Yankees suck._

"There was no Second Korean War on this Earth," said Soto. "Looks like they've also had a couple different presidents. The biggest difference is these people have been dealing with monsters for decades. And some of the monsters they face . . ." He shook his head. "They make Gyaos and Thulgira look like pussies. Honestly, I'm surprised this world isn't one big cinder."

Rice nodded without a word. He felt a whole new respect for Major Yamagata. If what Soto said was true, the Marine pilot had to have big brass ones to go into battle against monsters like that.

"I also read a little about their Second Civil War." Soto turned back to the screen. "This is some messed up shit. The President, a guy named Horacio Zamora, actually controlled some alien monster named Gigan. Son-of-a-bitch used it to destroy a lot of major cities, killed millions. Then he set himself up as dictator."

He paused, bringing up a new web page. "And get this. Our new friend, Major Yamagata, he actually played a big role in ending the Civil War."

"That guy's full of surprises, isn't he?" said Warthan.

"What did he do?" asked Mongkut.

Soto let out an awed breath. "It reads like some action/adventure novel. He and his squadron broke out of an internment camp, stole back their planes, stole some freakin' nukes, then flew to the Arctic and used those nukes to free Godzilla." He glanced over his shoulder. "That's that fire-breathing dinosaur that fought Gamera. Apparently on this world, he's the king of the monsters."

Candaele scrunched his face. "Why would they free that thing?"

"The people here call him a 'Guardian Monster.' I guess he lived up to it, 'cause he blasted Gigan straight to hell. And wait till you hear this. While Godzilla and Gigan were pounding one another in Miami, Major Yamagata's plane got shot down. After he bailed out, he actually tracked down and captured President Zamora. The guy may be Marine flyboy, but he is a serious badass."

Rice couldn't argue the fact. _The guy's wasting his time as a jarhead. He'd make a hell of a SEAL._

"So now that we've compared and contrasted our Earths," Warthan looked around at the others, "let's ask the big question. How do we get home?"

No one spoke. Rice stared at the deck, his shoulders slumping. He wished to God he had an answer.

"C'mon, Soto." Candaele stepped toward him. "You're the resident genius."

"Hey, I might have been a science nerd in high school, but that doesn't mean I can build a machine that let's people travel between dimensions."

Candaele tensed, then looked to Nagamine.

She gave him a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry. I study birds and giant monsters, not physics."

Lonborg threw out his arms. "Then how about we find some guys who know about this stuff? Maybe Stephen Hawking or Neil deGrasse Tyson exist on this world, too."

"What if they can't help us?" asked Candaele. "What if we're stuck on this Earth?"

Rice drew a breath, trying to form a response that would allay Candaele's, and everyone else's, fears.

All he could say was, "We'll just have to deal with it. What choice will we have?"

**XXXXX**

Yamagata held his breath and rocked back on his feet. He stared at the monitor in _Ballarat's _CIC, General Torrez staring back at him.

_He may think Rice is crazy, parallel Earth or not._

He let out his breath and continued with his briefing. "Commander Rice told me the pendent he wears was made by the same ancient civilization that created Gamera. Supposedly it establishes a link between the two, allowing Gamera to feed off Rice's strength, his willpower."

Torrez didn't speak. He just stared at Yamagata, hands folded on his desk.

"I know it sounds crazy, sir, but hell, is it any crazier than people and monsters from a parallel Earth?"

The general looked away, face stiffened in deep thought. Seconds later, he turned back to Yamagata. "Well, I hope he's not lying. If he can control Gamera, we can use him in our next attack on the Gyaos."

Yamagata noted his CO's use of the name Rice's group used for the flying kaiju. Honestly, he preferred it to _Oniuingu. _Gyaos was shorter and easier to pronounce.

"That might be a problem if Godzilla shows up," said Yamagata. "A mountain full of monster birds is way too tempting a target for him. He and Gamera could start fighting again."

Torrez nodded. "From what you're saying, Gamera sounds like another Guardian Monster. We've seen Godzilla work together with Mothra and Anguirus against other kaiju in the past. Gamera sounds like he should be an ally of Godzilla's."

"I've been thinking about that, too. A lot of kaiju experts think Godzilla has some sort of sixth sense when it comes to differentiating between good and bad monsters. Maybe he can't tell Gamera is a good guy because he comes from another dimension. Maybe there are different energies involved."

Torrez's head bobbed from side-to-side. "You may have a point. I'll run it by the kaiju experts back in the States and in Japan. Meanwhile, from the video Rice's team shot, there could be hundreds of eggs inside Mount Suribachi. We need to destroy them before they hatch. I want you back at Atienza, and bring Rice and his SEALs with you, along with Doctor Nagamine. Hopefully we can integrate them, or more specifically Gamera, into our next strike on Iwo Jima."

"Yes, sir."

"We'll coordinate with the _Washington _for the Major's return trip_," _said Captain Voutas, who stood next to Yamagata.

"Thank you, Captain. And I want to thank you and your crew for all your help."

"Our pleasure, sir."

The monitor went black.

Voutas turned to Yamagata. "It'll take a bit to generate a flight plan and fuel our helicopter. Why don't you get Commander Rice's people and head to the mess hall for a bite?"

Yamagata felt his empty stomach grumble. He hadn't eaten anything since breakfast.

"That sounds like the best idea I've heard all day, sir."

**XXXXX**

Dinner turned out to be pretty damn good. Yamagata and the SEALs enjoyed a Veal Cordon Bleu with cube potatoes that could be served in any three-star restaurant in the U.S. Nagamine settled for a pasta marinara with vegetables and seemed to like it.

They spent dinner talking about their Earths. Yamagata was amazed how similar both worlds were in terms of history. Rice's Earth, however, didn't seem to have the monster problems this Earth did.

_They're lucky._

Rice and his men were talking about their experiences in their world's Second Korean War when the pilot for _Ballarat's _helicopter showed up.

"Helo's topped off. We're ready to take you to _Washington."_

"Thank you, Lieutenant."

They finished off their food, the SEALs collecting their weapons and gear. Yamagata scanned the impressive array of firepower. Rifles, rocket launchers, grenade launchers, light machine guns.

_These guys are ready to kick some serious ass._

They followed the pilot through the frigate's corridors and up to the aft flight deck. The sun had nearly vanished below the horizon as they climbed into the Seahawk. Before long, the buzzing, roaring noise of the engines filled the interior.

Yamagata pressed his back against the fuselage. He thought about the next attack on Iwo Jima, wondering what they could do different to avoid another massacre. Using Gamera would certainly help. He didn't think Rice was bullshitting him. If Gamera had been built as a living weapon, its creators would need a way to control it.

_Whatever we do, it better work. _They had enough problems with the kaiju currently running around. They didn't need hundreds of new ones.

He noticed Rice and Warthan look up. Both had baffled expressions. Yamagata also looked up.

_What the hell?_

The engines were growing quieter.

Something moved to his left. Yamagata turned as the pilot emerged from the cockpit.

"Everyone out," he ordered.

"What's wrong?" asked Yamagata.

"The ship's at general quarters. Radar's picked up several Gyaos approaching."

_**TO BE CONTINUED**_


	20. Chapter 20

Yamagata, the SEALs, and Nagamine leaped out of the Seahawk. They bent at the waist and ran away from the chopper, its rotors pounding them with a fierce wind.

Once inside the hangar, the wail of claxons assaulted Yamagata's ears. Sailors hurried about, putting on helmets and life jackets. A petty officer waved the Americans and Nagamine over and handed them their own helmets and life jackets.

"You'd best get below," said the petty officer. "Make for the mess. You should be safe there."

"Screw that." Rice held up his MM-1 grenade launcher. "You guys gave us back our weapons. We might as well put 'em to good use."

The petty officer opened his mouth to protest, but the SEALs sprinted toward the nearest exit.

Yamagata stared at Rice's men, then turned to Dr. Nagamine, who looked unsure what to do.

He shrugged. "Can't let them have all the fun."

Yamagata followed the SEALs out of the hangar. Nagamine ran after him, pulling out a flare gun. She had told him the Gyaos didn't like bright light.

_Looks like she's better prepared than I am. _All Yamagata had was his 9mm Beretta pistol. Against the Gyaos, he might as well throw pebbles at them.

They rushed out onto the deck. Yamagata scanned the night sky for any sign of the monsters. He saw nothing but stars.

A sharp _whoosh _went up from _Ballarat's _mid section. The orange contrail from a Sea Sparrow missile rose into the air. Three more followed, streaking north.

Yamagata looked at Rice. "You got something I can borrow with more kick than this?" He patted the Beretta's holster.

The SEAL commander nodded. "Mongkut. Loan the major your sub gun."

The Thai sniper unslung his FN SCAR personal defense weapon and passed it to Yamagata, along with two 20-round magazines. He looked over the compact rifle.

"I'd rather have something bigger."

"Like what?" asked Rice.

"Like my jet."

Rice grunted. "Be happy with what you got." He turned to his team. "Warthan, Mongkut, Lonborg, Doc. Take up position on the port side. The rest of you, we've got the starboard side."

"Yes, sir." Warthan nodded and led his team to the other side of _Ballarat._

Clutching his SCAR, Yamagata scanned the night sky. Still no sign of the Gyaos. Cold pricks of dread worked their way up his spine. With the monsters closing in, he felt . . . small. Naked. He stared at his rifle, wanting to scowl. His finger should be on the trigger of his Excalibur's freeze ray or GAU-8 cannons.

Yamagata's stomach twisted at the thought of the Gyaos's sonic beams. At least in his jet, he had a titanium/artificial diamond alloy hull to shield him from the blasts. Here, he had only air around him.

He glanced at Rice, keeping his face tight. No way would he show his worries in front of the SEAL.

Another missile shot into the sky, then another.

"Man, I hope they knock down all the Gyaos," said Yamagata.

"That would be nice." Rice's gaze followed the contrails.

Yamagata looked down at the SCAR. He'd never fired this weapon before. Best to take a minute or two to familiarize himself with it before the Gyaos showed up.

"You sure you know how to use that thing?" Rice nodded to the SCAR.

Yamagata's eyes narrowed. "You know the old saying. 'Every Marine a rifleman.'"

Rice chuckled, then went back to searching the sky.

A distant flicker of orange lit up the night. Two more followed. Yamagata hoped it was the Sea Sparrows blowing the Gyaos to pieces.

Three more missiles streaked away from the _Ballarat._ Minutes later, three more explosions flared and dimmed in the distance.

A steady _crump-crump-crump_ belched from the ship's five-inch gun.

"Look alive." Rice hefted his grenade launcher. "They're getting closer."

Yamagata drew a deep breath, tightening his grip on the SCAR's barrel. His heart banged away against his chest. The five-incher continued to fire.

Sweat pooled on Yamagata's forehead. He wiped it away, not wanting it to get in his eyes and spoil his aim.

A sonic beam cut through the darkness. Yamagata tensed.

The yellow ray struck the water. Yamagata relaxed.

A second beam hit the _Ballarat's _bow. The frigate shook. Yamagata and the SEALs stumbled into the railing. A pillar of flame rose from the bow.

An evil screech pierced the air.

"Gyaos!" Rice shouted. "Two o'clock!"

Yamagata saw the winged monster fly just over the darkened waves. It couldn't be more than one hundred feet off the frigate's starboard side.

A deep chatter erupted from Candaele's SAW. Further down the starboard side, an Aussie opened up with a .50 caliber machine gun. Tracers laced across the water. Several struck the Gyaos. It screeched.

Yamagata brought up his SCAR. He led the monster as it arced toward the _Ballarat's _stern. The rifle crackled with a three round burst. Yamagata fired again. Thumps came from Rice's and Soto's grenade launchers.

The Gyaos spat out a yellow beam. A geyser of flame shot up from the helicopter deck. A quake rocked the ship. Yamagata gripped the railing with one hand to keep from falling.

The monster righted itself, giant wings flapping. It hovered toward the mid section, looking like it would land.

"Cover your eyes!" Rice shouted.

Yamagata turned away, throwing his forearm over his eyes. Rice and Soto fired their grenade launchers just as the Gyaos cried out. A flash of fear went through Yamagata. He imagined those sharp teeth clamping down on him.

He sensed bright white light in the air. The Gyaos shrieked in a combination of pain and anger.

The brilliant light faded. Yamagata lowered his arm, careful not to look directly at the magnesium flares as they descended toward the ocean. He spotted the Gyaos flying away from the _Ballarat._ Relief washed over him.

The monster swung back and dove on the frigate.

_We're not out of the woods yet. _Yamagata raised his SCAR and fired. Tracers flashed up from Candaele's SAW and the Aussie .50 caliber. Smoke from the fires fore and aft wafted over Yamagata, stinging his eyes and nose. He tried to ignore it as he switched out his empty magazine for a fresh one.

A beam streaked from the Gyaos's mouth.

"Down!" Rice yelled.

The men threw themselves to the deck. Heat and an electric tingle passed over Yamagata. An instant later a horrific crash rocked _Ballarat._ He held his breath as shrapnel zipped overhead.

Yamagata slowly lifted his head. Flames enveloped the smokestack and radar mast, sending up a column of smoke.

"Everyone still alive?" Rice asked.

"So far, so good," replied Candaele.

"Life signs positive, sir," said Soto.

"I'm . . ." The breath stuck in Yamagata's throat. "Shit."

The Australian gunner lay beside his .50 caliber, unmoving.

"Man down! Man down!" Yamagata jumped to his feet and sprinted for the sailor. The SEALs followed.

Yellow streaks went up from the other side of the ship. Yamagata glanced over his shoulder. The tracers struck a second Gyaos, which dug its claws into the _Ballarat's _superstructure.

Yamagata dropped to his knees, checking over the Aussie sailor. Dread shot through him when he saw blood expanding from beneath the young man's neck. It had to be a shrapnel wound. The sailor's mouth was open wide, but could only produce a soft, gurgling sound.

Rice cut away part of his uniform sleeve. He was about to press it against the sailor's wound when he went limp.

"Dammit." Yamagata lowered his head. _Can't think about him now. We've got monsters to fight._

He got to his feet and looked at the .50 caliber.

_Much better._ Slinging the SCAR over his shoulder, Yamagata grabbed the handles of the big machine gun and searched for the other Gyaos. Heat from the fire behind soaked his body with sweat.

"There!" Soto pointed toward the stern.

Yamagata swung the machine gun right. The Gyaos soared over the water, turning back toward the _Ballarat._

Fear bubbled inside Yamagata. How many more hits could the frigate take before she went under? How easily could the Gyaos snatch up the survivors in the water?

_Then you better make sure that doesn't happen._

Yamagata thumbed the trigger. Tremors went through his arms as the .50 cal fired. The tracers fell short. He fired again. Rice shouted something next to him. Yamagata couldn't make it out as the machine gun chugged.

The Gyaos flew straight at them. Yamagata fired another burst. Another. The Gyaos shuddered, but kept coming.

_Why the hell aren't the damn SEALs firing?_

Flickers of blue light went up beside him. He glanced left. Rice, Soto and Candaele held out strobe lights. The flashes lit up the Gyaos's snout. It screeched and pulled up, flapping its wings. Wind and sea spray battered Yamagata. He clenched his teeth.

"Blast that son-of-a-bitch!" Rice jabbed a finger at the monster.

Yamagata fought to keep his eyes open against the wind and stinging spray. Grimacing, he mashed the .50 cal's trigger. A line of tracers stitched the Gyaos. Yamagata sent stream after stream of big slugs into the beast. Candaele joined in with his SAW. Rice and Soto fired their grenade launchers.

The Gyaos threw its head back and shrieked. The flapping of its wings lessened. It dropped into the water.

Yamagata didn't let up. Neither did the SEALs. Machine gun rounds and grenades tore into the monster. It unleashed a strangled screech. Its wings no longer flapped. Yamagata walked the tracers up the Gyaos's neck. The monster toppled over. Huge curtains of water shot up around it.

A long breath flowed out of Yamagata's mouth. His muscles loosened.

A bolt of urgency shot through him. _The other Gyaos! _He swung around toward the fore section.

Tracers and grenades from Warthan's team pounded the other monster. It slumped away from the superstructure and vanished from sight. Seconds later, Yamagata heard a splash on the port side.

"Good job, Major." Rice thumped Yamagata on the shoulder.

"You, too." He nodded to the SEAL.

"Friggin' A." Candaele lowered his SAW. "We won."

"It's gonna be a pyrrhic victory if the Aussies don't get these fires under control," Rice noted.

Yamagata's eyes swept over the length of the _Ballarat. _Flames and smoke rose from the aft, mid section, and bow. He also noticed the ship slogged through the waves. He doubted they were making more than ten knots.

"C'mon," said Rice. "Let's give 'em a hand."

The four started down the deck. They took about dozens steps when Rice halted and bent his head. "Senior Chief, say again?

Yamagata's brow furrowed for a moment. He assumed Warthan had radioed the SEAL commander.

Rice's head snapped up. "Copy that." He turned to the others. "Back to it, boys. Senior Chief just spotted another wave of Gyaos."

_**TO BE CONTINUED**_


	21. Chapter 21

Captain Voutas clenched his jaw, forcing himself not to tremble. He couldn't show any sign of fear in front of the CIC crew.

Inside, however, terror threatened to swallow his soul. Multiple fires raged throughout the _Ballarat._ Its damaged engines could only churn out a max speed of ten knots. He'd lost over forty sailors, with thirty more injured.

Voutas stared at the display screens on the bulkhead and grimaced. All of them were blank. The Gyaos had taken out their sensor and communication arrays, as well as the five-inch gun and missile launchers.

His stomach lurched. His ship was deaf, dumb, and practically unarmed, and a second wave of Gyaos bore down on them.

_So do I just wait here and let the ugly bastards turn us into snacks? _He picked up the phone at his console and activated the ship's public address system. "This is the captain. All personnel not actively engaged in damage control report to the armory, then report topside and repel incoming Gyaos."

A few sailors in CIC stared at Voutas with furrowed brows or wide eyes. They probably thought him starkers. He couldn't blame them. What sane person ordered people to fight giant monsters with rifles and pistols?

_If we're about to cop it, we won't do it quietly._

"Filer."

"Sir?" A female sailor sitting at a nearby console turned to Voutas.

"Get me a satellite phone. We need to call in reinforcements."

"Aye, sir." Filer sprang out of her seat and hurried off.

Voutas's shoulders sagged. The American carrier _Washington _was roughly 150 miles to the south. Their planes could get here in ten or fifteen minutes. _By which time the ship will be on its way to the bottom and we'll be in the Gyaos's bellies._

It didn't matter. He was the captain and he had to fight his ship, no matter how futile it seemed.

The phone on Voutas's console rang. _Ballarat's _chief engineer gave him an update on the damaged engines when the sonar operator shouted, "Sub-surface contact, bearing zero-nine-zero. Eight thousand meters and closing."

"Standby," Voutas told the chief engineer. He lowered the phone and looked at the sonar operator. "What is it?"

"It's biological." The sonar operator bit his lip for a moment. "And it's enormous."

**XXXXX**

Yamagata hacked on the smoke that hung in the air around the _Ballarat. _He gripped the handles of the .50 caliber machine gun, watching the shadowy forms of eight Gyaos flying toward the frigate. He wanted to hear the whoosh of missiles from the VLS tubes and the thump of the five-incher. Both remained silent. They likely got knocked out in the first attack.

"It doesn't look like the odds are in our favor, huh, Major?" Rice said to him.

"Yup . . . been there, done that."

Rice chuckled and brought up his MM-1 grenade launcher, ready to fire.

Yamagata took a couple of slow breaths, coughing again. He tried not to think about his family, about Nicole. All his focus had to be on fighting the Gyaos, staying alive, and keeping this burning, hobbled ship afloat.

The Gyaos drew closer to the _Ballarat. _Their screeches pierced the air, stroking Yamagata's fear. He clamped down on it and elevated the big machine gun.

"Look!" Soto pointed.

Yamagata saw a huge wake tearing through the water toward them. He held his breath, his heart hammering against his chest.

Something poked out of the roiling white water, something large and rigid. Yamagata leaned forward, eyebrows knitted together. Could it be . . .

The sea near _Ballarat _exploded in a massive geyser.

"Holy shit!" Candaele blurted.

A deluge of sea spray fell on the ship, soaking Yamagata and the SEALs. He wiped away the dripping water from his face, salt stinging his eyes. They all looked up. A massive, scaly reptilian form stood above the frigate.

Godzilla unleashed a prolonged, bellowing roar. Yamagata grimaced, the noise slamming into his eardrums.

Rice and his SEALs swung their weapons toward Godzilla.

"Hold your fire!" Yamagata could barely hear himself, the roar still ringing in his ears. He waved for their attention. "Hold your fire!"

Rice stared at him, then at Godzilla, then back at him. The SEAL commander put up his hand. Candaele and Soto lowered their weapons.

Godzilla swung around toward the approaching Gyaos. He opened his mouth. A jet of blue flame shot across the night sky. It tore through the Gyaos formation. A mass of flames erupted in the sky. Chunks of scorched flesh flew off in all directions.

"Yes!" Yamagata pumped his fist. The big guy just took out four Gyaos in one shot.

Four more remained.

The flying monsters circled over the _Ballarat_. Godzilla tracked one and unleashed another blast of atomic fire. He missed.

Two Gyaos fired their sonic beams. Both cut through Godzilla's thick hide. Blood poured from the wounds. He wailed.

Another Gyaos dove on him and fired. The beam sliced through Godzilla's shoulder. He cried out, then let loose a stream of blue flame. The Gyaos's left wing exploded. The creature screeched and tumbled out of the sky, smoke and fire gushing from its side. Godzilla belched out more fire. The Gyaos blew apart just above the water.

More beams streaked down from the sky. Two struck Godzilla in the back. He roared and whipped around. Atomic fire shot out his mouth. The Gyaos avoided it. Two more sonic beams tore through Godzilla's chest.

Yamagata swallowed, staring at the dark rivers of blood flowing down the beast's torso. _C'mon. Suck it up and kill those bastards._

A Gyaos soared over Godzilla and lashed out with its feet. Claws ripped into Godzilla's shoulder. A fountain of blood shot out of the wound. Godzilla grabbed the Gyaos by the leg. The creature shrieked, flapping its wings, trying to break free.

Godzilla slammed it into the sea. Another curtain of water fell on _Ballarat, _battering Yamagata. Rivulets of salt water slid down his face. He wiped it away as Godzilla punched the Gyaos in the back.

The other two flying monsters dove on him. Both fired. One beam hit the water. The other struck Godzilla's armored plates. He roared and swung around. A blast of atomic fire flew from his mouth. One Gyaos exploded into fiery pieces of flesh. The other banked right. Yamagata couldn't tell if it was bolting or if it would come around for another attack.

Godzilla shot out another jet of blue flame. The Gyaos vanished in a burst of orange and black. Smoking body parts fell into the ocean.

The last Gyaos sprang out of the water and jumped on Godzilla's back. The mutated dinosaur roared and flailed at the other creature. The Gyaos screeched and clamped its jaws onto Godzilla's neck.

"Time to give the big guy a hand." Yamagata raised the .50 caliber, putting the sights on the Gyaos's back. He thumbed the trigger. Tracers zipped over the water and into the Gyaos. It let go of Godzilla's neck and roared.

"Flares!" Rice hollered.

He and Soto fired their grenade launchers. Two brilliant white flares soared past the Gyaos. It cried out, a combination of agony and rage. The creature whipped its head around and jumped off Godzilla's back.

Roaring, the radioactive dinosaur spun and lunged at the blinded Gyaos. His jaws snapped down on the flying monster's throat. The high-pitched shrieks ended in a choked gargle.

Yamagata watched as Godzilla bit down on the other monster's throat. Its body trembled and its eyes bulged. The Gyaos's mouth hung open, emitting no sound.

A crunching, tearing noise filtered across the water. The Gyaos's head tumbled off its shoulders. Blood gushed from its severed neck. The headless body collapsed into the sea.

Godzilla stared down at the dead monster, blood dripping from his jaws. He threw his head back and roared.

_Thanks for saving our asses. _Yamagata nodded.

Godzilla aimed his gaze at the crippled _Ballarat_.

"Man, I don't like the way he's looking at us." Soto raised his grenade launcher.

"Just relax," said Yamagata. "He's not gonna hurt us."

"And you know that how?" Rice didn't take his eyes off Godzilla.

"I've seen it before, during the Battle of Miami. He seems to . . . have a sense about who to fight and who not to fight."

Godzilla's gaze remained on the frigate.

Tremors took hold of Yamagata's legs. He started to have doubts about the monster's intentions.

Godzilla growled and turned away from the _Ballarat. _He sank beneath the waves and swam away.

Yamagata let out a long breath. The shaking in his legs stopped. _I've never been more glad to be right._

"I hope that's the last of those damn birds," said Candaele.

"Maybe for here." Rice stared out at the darkened ocean. "But there are probably other Gyaos heading elsewhere for another food run."

"Not much we can do about that." Yamagata pulled part of his soaked fatigues away from his torso.

"You're right." Rice nodded. "All we can do now is help the Aussies try to keep this ship afloat. Let's check in with Captain Voutas and see -"

Rice's pendant glowed red.

Yamagata's eyes shifted from it to Rice's face. "So does that mean your pet turtle's finally awake?"

_**TO BE CONTINUED**_


	22. Chapter 22

Lieutenant "Blade" Sharpe jerked the control stick right. The MF-3 Excalibur banked, just missing the oncoming Gyaos. The wash from the monster's huge wings bracketed the fighter. A quake took hold of it. He gripped the stick, teeth clenched, trying to right the plane.

Blade grunted as the Excalibur rolled. He shoved the stick left, then right. The aircraft leveled out and flew over the mass of lights stretching across Manila.

"I think I just shit myself," said Lieutenant (jg) Norris from the seat next to Blade.

"Great, and I didn't bring a little pine tree to hang in the cockpit."

Norris glanced at the rear camera. "Gyaos turning around. Coming up on our six."

"Of course it is," Blade grumbled. He swung the Excalibur left, pulled the stick up, then jinked right. A sonic beam streaked past.

Beyond him, the night sky lit up with more beams from the Gyaos, along with tracers and missile contrails from Filipino, Australian, Japanese, and Indonesian fighters. What remained of the _Washington's _air wing should also be here, but they were mixed up with another swarm of Gyaos over the Pacific.

Blade put the Excalibur into the tight left turn. G-forces crushed his chest and stomach. Another beam shot past the cockpit. He glanced at the rear monitor. The Gyaos closed on them.

He yanked the stick back. The Excalibur soared higher, then rolled. He scanned the skies through the light green field of his helmet's night vision mode.

The Gyaos passed beneath him.

Blade nosed the Excalibur over. He dove on the monster. The gun pipper settled over its back. He pulled the trigger on the control stick. Two blue beams sliced into the Gyaos. It arched its back, open jaw pointed to the heavens. Blade fired two more bursts from the particle beam cannons. Flames spread over the monster's body. It tumbled into Manila Bay.

Orange flickers caught Blade's attention. Two knife-shaped silhouettes sat in the water. The Philippine navy corvettes _Rizal_ and _Quezon. _Tracers from their 20mm and 40mm cannons soared into the air.

Blade turned away and headed back over land. He had no desire to get hit by friendly fire.

"One of those bloody beasts just set down in Makati City," an Aussie pilots called out.

Blade snapped his head left. In between the rows of high rises, he spotted a Gyaos lumbering down the street. Was it after a bus or a van?

"I got it," Winter's voice came over the comm.

Another Excalibur dove toward the city. Yamagata's plane, piloted by Winter, since hers was still stuck on a dirt runway in the northern part of the Philippines. He watched jet streak closer to the ground. Tension coiled around Blade's insides.

"Winter, what -"

The Excalibur pulled up about a hundred feet from the surface. It shot toward the canyon between the high rises.

"Winter, what the hell are you doing?"

She didn't answer. She dipped the wing of her jet and flew between the buildings. The Gyaos lay directly in front of her. It bent over, jaws open, descending upon a bus.

Orange strobes flashed beneath the Excalibur. Tracers from the GAU-8 cannons tore into the Gyaos. It spasmed and fell against one of the tall buildings.

Winter pulled up and rocketed back into the sky.

"That woman is crazy," Blade muttered.

"Yeah." Norris turned to him, grinning. "But that was one shit hot maneuver."

Blade gave his WSO a sideways glance, then grunted.

"Andromeda Four One," a Japanese accented voice came over the radio. The CIC controller on the JASDF E-2 Hawkeye assigned to the Philippines. "Eight new contacts from the northeast. Confirmed Gyaos. Twenty miles out from Manila."

"Great," Blade muttered. He called up his link with the AWACS plane. Eight t-shaped symbols moved closer to the city.

"Winter," he radioed Captain Snow. "The damn birds are bringing in reinforcements."

"Copy. I got 'em on my AWACS link. Move to intercept?"

"You read my mind. "Let's -"

A bright flash distracted Blade. He turned his head toward Manila Bay. A huge fireball rose from the water.

"_Rizal _is hit!" hollered someone from the remaining corvette. _"Rizal _is hit! Gyaos diving on us. Somebody shoot it -"

A sonic beam cut through the darkness. A large, orange flare lit up the water. The _Quezon _was no more.

"Andromeda Four One," the AWACS called out. "There are still boats in the harbor. Beastmaster Three, take Blackbird Zero Seven and Zero Eight and engage all Gyaos over Manila Bay."

"Roger," replied Winter and the two Australian air force pilots.

"Beastmaster Two, you and all Filipino planes proceed northeast of Manila and intercept new hostiles," ordered the CIC controller.

"Roger, Andromeda." Blade veered to the right. Below, over two dozen separate fires burned throughout the city. Some caused by Gyaos sonic beams, others started by downed aircraft or stray ordnance they had fired.

His chest constricted. How many civilians had died because a shell or missile or laser missed its intended target?

_How many more would die if we did nothing?_

He put the thoughts out of his mind. Now was not the time for self-recrimination. He checked his AESA radar, then scanned the sky around him with his Mark One Eyeballs. No Gyaos nearby. Filipino KA-50 Fighting Eagles lined up on either side of him.

He checked the radar again. Ten miles between them and the monsters.

"Norris, ready missiles."

"Readying missiles . . . targets acquired. I have weps."

"You've got weps," said Blade. He kept the Excalibur steady, giving his WSO a stable platform to –

Yellow flashes blinked in the distance. Beams shot through the darkness.

"Shit!" Blade slammed the stick left. The plane stood on its wing, twisting away from the beams.

Two blows rocked the Excalibur. The jet rolled over and plunged toward the ground. Blade growled, his throat burning, pulling back on the control stick. The nose slowly came up. Tension crushed his arms as he fought to level out.

The Excalibur straightened. Two tails of flame tumbled toward Manila. Wreckage from KA-50s struck by sonic beams. Blade threw the plane into a sharp left, then banked right. No way would he be an easy target for some monster bird.

"Second wave of Gyaos have broken through," radioed a Filipino pilot. "They're entering Manila air space."

Blade's eyes shifted from one end of the sky to the other until he spotted the creatures.

"Four Gyaos. Seven miles off my starboard wing, descending toward the city." He glanced at Norris. "All yours. Take 'em out."

The WSO stabbed a display screen with a finger, then frowned. "Rotary launcher won't respond. That last hit must have caused a malfunction." He looked over his shoulder. "Essian," he called to the plane's systems operator.

"I'm on it." His fingers flew over his console.

Blade's teeth clenched, biting off a stream of curses. _You've got other weapons. Use them._

He veered right, closing with the Gyaos formation as they neared the ground.

Two fiery contrails connected with one of the monsters. A mass of flames washed over it. Burning body parts shot off in multiple directions. The three remaining Gyaos split up. A KA-50 pursued one flying to the east.

Blade took one of the creatures heading west. "I have weps," he told Norris, selecting particle beams.

"Blade. Look." Norris pointed.

A Gyaos flapped its wings and stood upright, landing along a rail line about three miles away. A second monster touched down a mile up the track.

Fear and worry slithered through Blade. Trains. How many people might be in each car? Between twenty and forty? It was like a human-filled burrito to the Gyaos.

"Beastmaster Two," he announced over the radio. "Engaging two Gyaos along the rail line."

He broke off from the Gyaos he'd been tracking and aimed for the closest monster on the ground. He switched to the freeze ray and slewed the gun pipper toward the Gyaos. The beast tromped along the rails, head down. Had it spotted a meal?

"Beastmaster Two," radioed a Filipino pilot. "Two Gyaos on your six."

"Cut me a damn break already!" Blade blew out a frustrated breath. "Screw it. We're going in." The titanium/artificial diamond hull could withstand a few sonic beams.

The crosshairs rested on the Gyaos's back. It roared and bent down toward a train.

"Not today, asshole." His finger kissed the trigger.

A yellow flash blinded him. The Excalibur shook.

"Shit!" Blade squeezed the trigger.

Another quake rocked the plane. Colorful dots swirled in his eyes. His helmet's night vision flared white.

Blade pulled up, not wanting to smack into the ground. He blinked rapidly, trying to rid himself of the swirling dots. The night vision settled back to its phosphorescent green. He glanced at the rearview camera. Two Gyaos were on his tail. A coating of ice clung to a building near the tracks. The Gyaos he'd missed clutched a train in its jaws.

_No, no, no!_ He swung the Excalibur around.

Another beam struck the jet. The internal lights blinked off and on.

"We're losing hull integrity!" warned Essian.

"Dammit!" Blade banked left. A beam whizzed past him. "Somebody get that Gyaos on the tracks!"

Another bank to the right. Manila Bay lay a few miles in front of him. He needed to shake these monster, get back to the tracks and –

A mountainous geyser of water exploded in the middle of the bay.

"What the hell?" Norris blurted.

A large round shape rose from the water, blue flames gushing from its rear.

Blade's eyes widened as Gamera flew toward him.

_**TO BE CONTINUED**_

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **_I hope you're enjoying this story. If you want to check out some of my original works, my sea monster thriller "Sea Raptor" is available for $0.99 as part of a Kindle Countdown on Amazon._


	23. Chapter 23

Blade shoved the control stick forward. The Excalibur's engine screamed as it went into a dive. The massive form of Gamera rocketed overhead. Its jet wash battered the plane. Blade gripped the stick with both hands as the Excalibur bucked up and down. The right wing dipped. He shoved the stick to the left. A sea of lights, mixed with flames, lay before him. Teeth clenched, he yanked the stick into his gut. The jet shot back into the air. G-forces threatened to crush him.

"Blade," Winter said over the radio. "You okay."

He responded with an incoherent growl before leveling out.

"Blade!"

"I'm still breathing." He sagged, the big invisible vise no longer squeezing him. Blade shook off his relief, scanned around him, then checked the rear monitor.

Fireballs spat from Gamera's mouth. One Gyaos banked low and dove. The other exploded. Flaming pieces of flesh spiraled toward Manila below.

Blade swung the Excalibur around. A stab of fear plunged through his chest. The Gyaos at the track had a train car in its mouth.

"Oh no. Not gonna happen." He aimed the nose at the winged monster. "Winter. Get that Gyaos with the train in its mouth."

"I've got eyes on. Coming . . . wait one. Gamera's inbound on that Gyaos."

Blade spotted the bright blue jets of flame. Gamera made a beeline toward the Gyaos. It turned toward the giant turtle and opened its mouth.

The train tumbled out of it.

_Oh God. _Eyes wide, Blade watched the train fall through the air and vanish behind a building. Horror flooded him. So did helplessness. Here he was, flying the most advanced combat plane in the world, one specifically designed to protect people from giant monsters. And he could do nothing to help the poor people in that plunging train.

_You kill that bastard, _he mentally urged Gamera.

Sonic beams flew from the Gyaos's mouth. Two missed. A third clipped Gamera's neck. Sparks flew off its shell.

Blade armed the freeze ray. He angled the plane for a clear shot.

Another Gyaos appeared, diving on Gamera. It slammed against the turtle's shell. Clawed feet banged against the jagged armored plating. Both monsters crossed in front of the Excalibur.

"Shit."

The beasts loomed larger in his windshield. Blade banked left. He then swerved right. The other Gyaos leapt onto Gamera's back. The turtle angled closer to the ground . . .

And smashed through a neighborhood of tightly clustered buildings. Clouds of debris shot up around the monsters. A shudder went through Blade. How many people had been in those buildings?

He exhaled loudly. No time to think about that now. He had monsters to fight.

The Gyaos jumped up and down on Gamera's back. They fired sonic beams. How many could Gamera's shell sustain?

"Winter. Form up on me. We're giving the turtle a hand."

"Copy that."

Blade wheeled over the Philippines capital. Winter slid in off his port wing. They soared just a few hundred feet off the deck, the two Gyaos before them. Just beyond, he saw a third fly over the city. Within seconds, it was out of his field of vision. All his attention was on the monsters beating on Gamera.

"Going guns." He switched to the GAU-8s.

"Guns, copy," replied Winter.

"I got the one on the right," ordered Blade. "You take the one on the left."

"Copy."

The gun pipper settled on his Gyaos, which jumped up and down on Gamera's back. It fired another sonic beam.

Blade squeezed the trigger. The deep _grrr_ of the guns filled the cockpit. Tracers laced the Gyaos. They jerked and threw back their heads, likely wailing in pain.

Blade peeled off to the right. Winter went left. Blade checked the rear camera. One of the Gyaos toppled over. The other flapped its wings, trying to gain altitude. It wobbled to the left. He grinned, pleased he and Winter hurt the son-of-a-bitch.

Gamera pushed himself up to his hind legs and whirled around. He grabbed the Gyaos's leg and slammed it into the street. An enormous dust cloud spewed up. Both monsters vanished from sight.

"Switching rear camera to thermal," Essian announced.

Glowing black and white images appeared on the monitor. Gamera and the Gyaos. The dust cloud was no longer visible. The giant turtle raised an arm. A blade protruded from its elbow. He rammed it into the Gyaos's skull. Once. Twice. Three times. Dark spouts of blood spewed from the monster's head. It trembled, then went still.

"Yeah." Blade gave a small fist pump. It was nice to have another monster fighting for humanity instead of trying to destroy it. _Sure makes my job easier._

The second Gyaos rose. A sonic beam shot from its mouth. It zipped over Gamera's head. A second beam struck the turtle's side. He cried out and swung around to face the winged monster. It rose to its feet, staggered, and fired. The beam missed.

Gamera roared and charged. He lashed out with a clawed hand. Blood flew out the Gyaos's throat. A second slash sent more blood flying. The monster wobbled and collapsed.

Gamera stood over the dead Gyaos, lifted his head to the sky, and roared.

"Remaining Gyaos retreating," radioed the CIC controller on the Japanese AWACS plane. "Repeat, remaining Gyaos retreating. All planes, hold position over the city until relieved."

The AWACS assigned him and Winter to a racetrack pattern north of Manila. A flash of blue caught his attention. He watched Gamera soar into the air, hopefully going after the remaining Gyaos.

His heart settled down and his breathing returned to normal as he began circling the dark hills on the outskirts of the city.

_Don't relax. Those bastards might want to come back for seconds._

He checked the sky around him, then glanced at the radar. No threats were visible. He also kept a close eye on his fuel. Still plenty in the tank, for now. His gaze shifted to Manila. Dozens of fires burned throughout the capital.

"Man, it's gotta be a nightmare for those people down there," said Norris.

Blade didn't respond to his WSO, just nodded. How many were dead and injured? How overwhelmed would the first responders and hospitals be? Part of him wanted to be down there, helping with rescue and recovery.

He shook off the feeling_. _He'd been trained as a fighter pilot, not a paramedic. Up here was where he could do the most good.

Minutes later, a flight of four stubby jets appeared over Manila. Aermacchi S-211s, light attack aircraft for the Philippines air force. They took up station over the city, allowing the Excaliburs and other jets to return to base to rearm and refuel.

After landing at Atienza Air Base, Blade, Winter, and the other pilots headed for the briefing room. He glanced around the group and frowned. _A lot fewer pilots than we started out with._

They described the battle to General Torrez and the base commander, General Canlas. Next, they reviewed gun camera footage, along with news footage and videos and photos posted on social media. One young, long-haired boy had actually taken a selfie with a Gyaos in the background.

Blade groaned and shook his head. So did many other pilots. He leaned over to Norris and whispered, "There's an idiot studying to be a moron."

"You may have just insulted morons everywhere," replied Norris.

"We obviously do not have an exact number of casualties," said General Canlas. "Our initial estimates put the death toll at well over a thousand, with perhaps three or four times as many wounded."

Blade's jaw tightened, a hollow feeling in his gut, thinking of all those civilians they had failed to save.

"The Gyaos also carried away some vehicles." Canlas turned back to the main monitor, clicking a remote control.

A smartphone video showed a Gyaos launching itself into the air with a bus in its jaws. Another image had a monster snatching a pair of cars with its talons.

Next came news footage of a Gyaos landing by train tracks.

_Wait a minute. _Brow furrowed, Blade leaned forward. The Gyaos bent down and clamped its jaws around a battered train car. He held his breath when he stared past the monster. Two other Gyaos could be seen in the background, jumping up and down. Just like . . .

_No. Aw dammit, no._

The Gyaos flew off with the train.

Blade closed his eyes, his throat tightening. He remembered the other Gyaos flying beyond the two attacking Gamera. It must have come around and grabbed the train while he and Winter made their attack run to aid the giant turtle.

_If I'd been paying more attention. If I'd covered the tracks instead of helping a monster that can probably take care of himself._

He leaned back, thinking of the people on that train. It took all the strength he had to not break down in the middle of the briefing room.

_**TO BE CONTINUED**_


	24. Chapter 24

Rice smiled down at the small form sleeping in the crib. Pride and love expanded from his heart. That was his child.

He turned to Rita, who beamed at the baby. Rice put an arm around her.

He couldn't feel her. Then she vanished. So did the baby. He snapped his head in all directions, trying to call out to them. No sound came from his mouth.

A quake shook the nursery. The world dissolved around him.

Rice's eyes flickered open. The interior of the COD greeted him. He groaned and rubbed his eyes, gritting his teeth at the memory of his dream. Would he ever see Rita and their child again?

The plane rolled to a stop, the hum of its propellers fading.

"Welcome to the Philippines, gentlemen, and lady," said the pilot.

"Yup." Major Yamagata, sitting across from him, slapped his hands on his legs. "Home sweet home away from home."

Rice rose, the soreness he'd felt hours ago gone. Gamera had taken a few good licks from the Gyaos during the fight over Manila, and he'd felt every single one of those blasts and punches. At least he didn't need a coma to recover from any of Gamera's injuries, like he did the first time they'd psychically linked in Korea.

The crew chief lowered the rear cargo ramp. Rice led his SEALs and Dr. Nagamine out of the COD and onto the tarmac of Atienza Air Base. Aircraft of all kinds sat along the runway; fighters, light attack craft, transports, and helicopters. It appeared this place had become the center of anti-Gyaos operations.

Rice glanced at the sky. Dark clouds rolled in from the south. It wouldn't be long before it began to rain.

"Welcome back, Major," someone said.

A Hispanic man with sharp features and short dark hair with graying temples walked toward them. Behind him were a pair of unsmiling Filipino military policemen.

"Sir." Yamagata saluted, then angled his body toward Rice's group. "May I present Lieutenant Commander Jim Rice and his SEAL team, and Doctor Nagamine."

The Hispanic man nodded to them. "General Torrez, CO First Joint Special Combat Squadron."

Rice came to attention and saluted. He wondered if that was appropriate. Technically, he didn't serve in _this _Earth's US Armed Forces.

_When in doubt, salute._

Torrez returned the salute, then shook all their hands. "Major Yamagata told me what you did on the _Ballarat _during the Gyaos attack. Good job."

"Thank you, sir," replied Rice.

"These men will take you to your temporary quarters." Torrez pointed to the MPs. "We have fresh fatigues and MREs for you. Commander, Doctor Nagamine. I'm afraid you'll have to have to change and eat quickly. I have a briefing scheduled forty-five minutes from now, and I want you two there."

"Yes, sir." Rice nodded.

"If you need anything, just ask the MPs," said Torrez. "They'll be stationed outside your quarters and act as your escorts during your stay."

Rice bristled at that. After what happened on _Ballarat_, he'd had enough of people standing guard over him.

_Just relax. They didn't say anything about throwing us in the brig, or stockade, or whatever the Filipinos call it. _Besides, what commanding officer worth his or her salt would let strangers wander around their base unattended?

The MPs took the SEALs and Nagamine to a Mitsubishi pick-up truck, then drove to a square building with a slanted gray roof. Nagamine rated her own quarters, while the SEALs shared a communal barracks. Rice stripped off the fatigues given to him by the Australians and put on a brown, green, and beige splotched uniform of the Philippines air force. He then reached for an MRE placed on his bunk.

"So what do you think they're going to ask you at the briefing, sir?" asked Candaele as he laced up his boots.

"Probably about Gamera and the Gyaos. I can't imagine them being interested in anything else."

Candaele knotted his laces and held on to them. His jaw clenched.

"What's on your mind, sailor?" asked Senior Chief Warthan.

Candaele let out a slow breath, then raised his head. "What about finding out if they have a way to get us home?"

"How do you think they can do that?"

"Shit, I don't know." Candaele threw up his hands. "There's gotta be someone here who might have an idea."

Rice studied the SEAL's face. He wouldn't say Candaele looked panicked. SEALs _do not _panic. He did, however, sense worry and frustration. After repelling the Gyaos attack, it had been a long helicopter ride from _Ballarat _to _George Washington_, then another long ride on the COD to the Philippines. Lots of time to think about everyone they'd left behind on their Earth, worried they might never see them again. He was not immune to those emotions, especially the one that frightened him the most. Helplessness.

There was nothing he could do to get them back to their Earth, and him back to his wife and unborn child. He couldn't call for an extraction. He couldn't blast open a door to home. He sure as shit couldn't build some inter-dimensional transporter like comic book characters.

"We may have to face facts," said Lonborg. "We may be stuck here."

"Oh bullshit to that," snapped Candaele. "If some weird accident landed us on this Earth, there has to be some way to get back to our Earth."

"And if there isn't?"

Candaele's lips tightened, his eyes locked on Lonborg, looking like he was trying to come up with a response. He didn't.

"All right." Hands on his hips, Rice surveyed the SEALs. "None of this talk is going to help us get back home. So for now we focus on our original mission. Stop the Gyaos. This may not be our Earth, but those ugly bastards have already killed a lot of people, and as long as one of them is alive, everyone in the Pacific is in danger. Our job is to protect innocent lives, no matter what world we're on. Got it?"

"Yes, sir," the SEALs replied.

"Besides, our Earth brought the Gyaos here, so we owe it to the people of this world to help them however we can."

Soto shook his head. "Why would the Japanese build a weapon that dumps the Gyaos on another world instead of just killing them?"

"I don't know." Rice stopped himself from saying he'd ask that Saito dickhead from the National Public Safety Commission when they got back to their Earth. He didn't want to give his men a guarantee he couldn't deliver.

He snatched his MRE. Southwest beef and beans. He doubted he had time to heat them up, so he just dumped some cheese spread on the tortillas and scarfed them down. It was like eating gooey cardboard.

_What'd you know. MREs suck on this Earth, too._

Ten minutes later, he met up with Dr. Nagamine. The pair walked outside, where the MPs waited by their pick-up. The lithe Japanese woman kept her gaze at the ground the entire time. Rice glanced at her, sympathy welling up. She had to be wondering if she'd ever get back to her family.

"Well get through this," he told her, hoping he sounded more confident than he actually felt.

Nagamine looked up at him. She offered him a weak, forced smile and a brief nod before they got into the pick-up.

The MP took them to the admin building as the first drops of rain thudded against the windshield. Nagamine hustled inside. Rice walked at a normal pace. The rain didn't bother him. He'd been in the field during storms much worse than this.

They were greeted at the entrance by a squat young woman named Schwabe, one of General Torrez's staff weenies. She led them to a conference room on the third floor. Along with the general and Major Yamagata, the base commander, General Canlas, and the various squadron leaders of the multi-national air force were on hand.

"As bad as last night's Gyaos attacks were," Torrez began, "we did inflict heavy casualties on them. It also looked like it spurred many other countries in the Pacific to contribute planes to our coalition. Along with reinforcements from Japan, Australia, Indonesia, and the US expected to arrive over the next twenty-four hours, we've also had commitments from China, Russia, Taiwan, South Korea, and Vietnam. The one wildcard is North Korea. Their 'Dear Leader' thinks the Gyaos are some Western plot to destroy his country. He's even threatening to nuke Iwo Jima."

Rice parted his lips, about to correct General Torrez that North Korea no longer existed.

_Yeah, on my Earth. _On this one, the crazy Kim family still ran their little nuclear-capable hermit kingdom.

"Even if they were insane enough to do it," Torrez continued, "the guidance systems on their missiles are unreliable. They're more likely to crash into the ocean that hit Iwo."

"Still, we must be alert," suggested the Japanese squadron commander, Major Itoi.

"No argument there," said Torrez. "But even with all these additional aircraft, this will still be a costly battle. It's estimated there are between one hundred-fifty and two hundred Gyaos remaining on Iwo Jima. But we may have an equalizer." His gaze settled on Rice.

"You mean my giant pet turtle."

"Gamera did help turn the tide of the battle over Manila last night, and Godzilla saved the _Ballarat _from the other Gyaos swarm. What we need is to get both of those monsters on Iwo Jima. That shouldn't be a problem with Gamera, since you control him, Commander."

"Control is not the correct term, General," said Nagamine. "The two are linked. Commander Rice's spiritual energy strengthens Gamera should he weaken during battle."

The squadron leaders exchanged doubtful looks with one another.

"It also helps me communicate telepathically with Gamera," Rice added. "If we're going to launch an attack, I can get him to Iwo Jima."

More doubtful looks from the pilots, all aimed at him. Well, it was their problem if they didn't believe him.

"If what the commander says is true," General Canlas pointed a hand at Rice, "we can send at least one monster to Iwo Jima. But what of Godzilla? We have no way of controlling him."

Torrez pressed his fingers together, eyes shifting between Rice and Nagamine. "What about Gamera? Is it possible he can communicate with Godzilla? Or maybe you can communicate with him through Gamera?"

Rice shrugged and shook his head. "Sir, I have no idea if that can be done." He held up his pendant. "I'll be honest, I barely understand how this thing works myself."

"It might be possible." Nagamine looked from Rice to Torrez. "There were other Gameras created by that ancient civilization on our Earth. They must have had a way to communicate with one another in order to coordinate their attacks. It is reasonable to assume they might be able to communicate with other creatures."

"Let's hope it's more than a reasonable assumption," said Yamagata. "The last time those two crossed paths, they beat the living hell out of each other. It'd be nice to get them on the same page."

"Well is Godzilla able to play nice with others?" asked Rice.

"Actually, yes. He has teamed up in the past with monsters like Mothra and Anguirus. If Gamera can talk to him, maybe he'll join him in fighting the Gyaos."

"Then let's see if we can make that happen," said Torrez. "I'll tell all coalition ships to be on the lookout for Godzilla. When we find him, Commander, get your turtle into position, and hope this crazy-ass plan works."

"Yes, sir." Rice nodded.

"Now, as far as defending the Philippines from any more Gyaos attacks, how are we doing on that front?" Torrez turned to Canlas.

"We are moving artillery, armored vehicles, and heavy machine guns to our major cities. Navy and coast guard units are taking up position along major coastal cities and towns. Unfortunately, we are lacking in dedicated anti-aircraft guns and surface-to-air missiles. We expect delivery of such systems from America and other coalition countries soon. We are also appropriating all large, portable spotlights in the country. Since the Gyaos are susceptible to bright light, they might be our most effective weapons."

Torrez leaned back in his chair, brow furrowed, thinking. "We might also look into putting additional flare dispensers on our aircraft. That might distract the Gyaos during -"

The phone next to Torrez rang. He picked it up. "Yes . . . Yes, Lieutenant?" He straightened in his chair. "The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs? Put him through."

Rice's eyebrows rose. The head honcho from Fort Fumble – he wondered if they used that nickname for the Pentagon on this Earth – calling here? This had to be important, or really bad news. Or maybe a combination of the two.

"General Torrez here, sir . . . Yes, sir . . . Yes, sir." His eyebrows knitted together, giving him a confused look. "I don't understand. We're already planning our next attack on Iwo Jima . . . I see . . . Yes, sir . . . Yes, sir, we'll give them all the support they need . . . Yes, sir."

He put down the receiver and looked at Rice. "Well, Commander, it looks like we may not need for Godzilla and Gamera to make nice after all."

"Why's that, sir?"

"The Chairman informed me two B-2 bombers just took off from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri. They're both carrying GBU-57s, our biggest bunker busters. If all goes as planned, this time tomorrow, there won't be anything left of Mount Suribachi or the Gyaos inside it."

_**TO BE CONTINUED**_


	25. Chapter 25

_I guess I go back to yankin' my crank._

Rice walked out of the briefing, the muscles in his face tightening. All that planning to get Gamera and Godzilla to work together against the Gyaos just went down the crapper. He had wanted this mission, _needed _it. Not only because it was his duty to defend America – _Any America, I guess – _but he and his SEALs could focus on something productive than constantly worrying about being stuck on this Earth.

_So now what do I do about that? _He could always put them through PT and drills. The base had to have a firing range. Burning through a few hundred rounds was always a great stress reliever, and a way to stay sharp. But without an actual life or death mission, they could only train for so long before they went back to dwelling on their predicament.

Rice looked over his shoulder, past the squadron leaders to the door of the conference room. Dr. Nagamine stayed behind. General Torrez wanted her to brief the monster – _kaiju on this Earth – _experts in the various coalition nations on the Gyaos.

_At least she's doing something useful._

Major Yamagata emerged from the room. He made eye contact and nodded. Rice waited as the Marine pilot came over.

"Sorry we're not using your turtle for this one."

Rice shrugged and started toward the stairs. "Not the first time I've been cockteased with a big mission."

"Don't count yourself out yet," said Yamagata. "In my experience, kaiju don't go down easy. We still might need Gamera."

"Mm." Rice took the steps, eyes on his feet, thinking. Whether they needed Gamera or not, they'd still have to do a BDA – Bomb Damage Assessment – of Iwo Jima to make sure all the Gyaos were dead. That required more than aerial reconnaissance. They needed boots on the ground.

_SEAL boots, specifically. _Not only were he and his men capable of that, but searching the island might help them find clues to get back to their Earth. He had no idea what those clues would look like, or if they even existed. He was grasping at straws. Right now, however, those straws were all he had.

"So how did you wind up fighting giant monsters?" Rice turned to Yamagata as they neared the first floor. "Or kaiju, or whatever you call them."

"I happen to be a damn good pilot. That's what the people who put together the First JSCS said. And what the hell, I like a challenge."

"And what about joining Uncle Sam's Misguided Children?"

"I wanted to do something different. My sister's in the Army, my dad was in the Army during Desert Storm, my great-grandfather was also Army, 442nd Regimental Combat Team."

"The 442nd?" Rice pushed open the glass door and stepped outside into a light rain. "The Japanese-American soldiers in World War Two?"

Yamagata grinned. "Nice to see you had them on your Earth, too. Anyway, I figured we contributed enough Yamagatas to the Army, time to spread the wealth to the other services. That and I used to watch _Black Sheep Squadron _on Nick at Nite and thought Pappy Boyington was the shit."

Rice threw back his head and laughed, catching sight of one of the Filipino MPs trailing them.

"So what made you want to be a SEAL?" asked Yamagata.

"I grew up a news junkie." Rice snorted out a laugh. "I know, weird thing for a kid to be. But I liked knowing what was going on in the world, even thought about becoming a reporter. But the more I saw all the terrorist scumbags in the world brutalizing and slaughtering people, the more I wanted to stop it. Can't do that with a camera and a tape recorder. When I said I wanted to go into the military, my parents and some of my teachers tried to talk me out of it, told me I could go to a good school and make something of myself. So I went to Annapolis and became a SEAL. I actually proved them right . . . not the way they were hoping, however."

Yamagata chuckled.

Talk of his parents formed a dark hole in Rice's chest. He lowered his head. "I wonder what the Navy on my Earth told my folks about what happened to us." He frowned. "And my wife."

"Sorry. I can't imagine how hard this has to be."

"You got that right, especially with Rita pregnant."

Yamagata closed his eyes, sympathy radiating from his face. "I really wish there was something I could do. Hell, I'll be honest. I don't know if there's anyone on this planet that can help."

Rice grunted. "Thanks for that dose of honesty."

"Did you want me to pipe sunshine up your ass?"

"I'll take honesty any day, no matter how unpleasant."

They walked in silence, Rice staring straight ahead, barely taking in the runway and buildings around him. Did he have to accept the fact there was no going home? He didn't want to. That would be quitting, and SEALs never quit.

_There's a difference between not quitting and accepting reality. _Rice wasn't ready to accept reality, not yet.

Yamagata's cell phone chimed. He checked the screen before putting it to his ear. "Yeah, Nicole . . . What is it . . ." He glanced at Rice. "Yeah, he's right here with me."

The Marine pilot slowed his pace. Rice's brow furrowed, wondering what was going on.

"You sure about that . . . We're on our way back from the admin building . . . Okay, we can meet you there in five."

Yamagata pocketed his phone.

"What is it?" asked Rice.

"Nicole's got some new info on Iwo Jima she wants to show us."

"Who?"

"Sorry. Captain Nicole Fox, my girlfriend. She's the squadron's SIGINT officer. She wants us to meet her at the mess hall."

They picked up their pace, anticipation surging through Rice.

_Don't get your hopes up, Jim. _He had a hard time following his own advice, imagining this Nicole telling him she'd found some portal or whatnot that could get them home.

They approached the mess hall. Rice spotted a slender, dark-haired woman wearing glasses and an Airman Battle Uniform standing near the entrance. Captain Fox, he presumed. She did a nice job rockin' the hot librarian look, if librarians wore camouflage.

Yamagata introduced them, then said, "So what do you have?"

Fox held up her tablet. "One of our drones picked this up a few minutes ago." She tapped the screen and flipped it around so they could see.

The image showed a beige and green landscape. Iwo Jima. Rice's breathing slowed. He expected to see . . . he didn't know. A blue, swirling portal like in sci-fi movies.

Instead, he watched four people crouch behind a clump of vegetation. Two men, a woman, and a child.

"Survivors?" His head snapped up. "There are survivors on Iwo Jima?"

Fox nodded. "It's the first time we've spotted any. I already let General Torrez know. He said he was going to contact the Pentagon to get a rescue mission authorized before the bombers arrive. But that's not all."

"What else have you got?" asked Yamagata.

Fox's gaze shifted to Rice. "The analysts back at Beale found some more anomalies in the footage. There were three times Iwo Jima winked out for a split second. Plus, there are elevated readings in the local electromagnetic field."

The Air Force captain drew herself to her full height, her face aglow. "This could mean the island is getting ready to phase back to its Earth. Commander, we may have a way to get your and your team home."

_**TO BE CONTINUED**_


	26. Chapter 26

Rice tried to put thoughts of Rita, family, and his Earth out of his mind as he examined his gear. He needed all his focus on the mission. He had men to lead and people to save on an island infested with giant monsters.

He glanced at the other SEALs in the barracks. They, too, checked their gear. The men went about their task with the usual quiet, determined professionalism. But Rice could tell from their slightly quicker movements, their postures, that anticipation and hope had taken hold. He felt it himself. This was their best chance of getting home.

Provided Captain Fox's theory was correct, and provided the Gyaos didn't eat them.

They performed a comms check, then switched on their handheld strobes. They worked fine as he expected. Each one had fresh batteries installed. Still, in this line of work one didn't go by assumptions. You made damn sure your equipment worked before you got dropped in the field. A bad radio or malfunctioning NVGs could mean the difference between returning home on your feet or in a box.

"Looks like we're ready," said Rice.

"Damn right I'm ready." Candaele grinned. "There're too many babes back in Coronado – our Coronado – that've gone too long without a little Candaele loving."

"Oh, you mean my sloppy seconds." Soto tapped the machine gunner on the shoulder with a fist.

Rice chuckled to himself. He hadn't seen his men this loose since they wound up on this Earth. "We still have a ways to go before you two have to decide between drunken co-eds or Soto's _Playboys_. We've got monsters to fight and people to save. Let's move it."

He slung his grenade launcher over his shoulder and headed to the exit, overhearing Candaele say, "If a mission like this doesn't get us laid, nothing will."

They met up with Dr. Nagamine in the hallway and headed for the flightline. Rice noticed the Japanese scientist walked with a more confident stride and her head up. Just like the SEALs, she felt that returning to their Earth was more of a reality than a pipedream.

_What if the island takes us to another parallel Earth?_

Rice tried to dismiss the negative thought. He was not entirely successful.

The black, oblong shapes of the MF-3 Excaliburs lay ahead of him. This close to the jets, he couldn't get over how big they were. They had to be roughly the size of the old F-111 tactical bombers. Certainly not sleek like most jet fighters.

Men and women checked over the three aircraft, including Major Yamagata. Rice veered toward him.

"Major," he called out.

Yamagata turned. "Commander. You heading out?"

"As soon as the rest of our team gets here." Rice looked around the Marine at the Excaliburs. "Your planes in good shape?"

"They're a little battered, but we'll be ready if you need us."

"If we need you, that means everything's gone to shit."

"Then here's hoping we spend our time just burning up a lot of avgas." Yamagata tilted his head. "You sure about this plan?"

Rice shrugged. "This could be our only chance to get back home. We have to take it. All the better we can do it while saving those civilians."

"You can always go back to the sub. Wait there until the B-2s finish their bomb run."

"Fat chance." Rice shook his head. "With our luck, Iwo Jima will phase back to our Earth right after the bombers finish turning Mount Suribachi into a crater. Once we land, we're not leaving that island until we're home."

Yamagata's jaw stiffened, concern radiating from his face. "They're going to be dropping GBU-28s. Five thousand pounds each."

"Don't worry." Rice gave him a small, dismissive wave. "We'll be on the other side of the island hunkered down in an old Japanese bunker. If your history's like ours, their army put up with three days of naval bombardment, and a lot of them survived."

"We didn't have bunker buster bombs back then. And guided or not, bombs can still go off target."

"True," Rice replied. "But if you were in my shoes, what would you do?"

Yamagata gave an almost silent chuckle. "I think you know the answer to that."

"Yup." Rice nodded. "We'll get those people back home."

"And here's to you people going home as well." Yamagata stuck out his hand. "It's been a pleasure, Commander."

"Likewise." He meant it. He may not have liked the Marine pilot when he first met him on the _Ballarat_, but that was before either of them knew about this whole parallel Earth shit. Even without a plane, Yamagata acquitted himself well when the Gyaos attacked the ship. He had nothing but respect for the Japanese-American devil dog, and would have no problem fighting alongside him again.

For obvious reasons, Rice hoped that never happened.

Yamagata shook hands with the other SEALs and Nagamine, so did the other members of the 1st JSCS.

"You promise me you'll get those people out alive," said a lean black man whose nametag read SHARPE. The steely, serious gaze he gave Rice made him think the pilot believed it was his fault those civilians wound up on Iwo Jima.

"You've got my word on that, Lieutenant."

As they walked away, Rice saw the tall, dark-haired female pilot clamp a hand on Sharpe's shoulder. He had seen the Excaliburs over Manila through Gamera's eyes last night. Maybe Sharpe did blame himself for all the people taken by the Gyaos. Maybe he saw The SEALs as a chance for some measure of salvation.

_Then let's not let the poor guy down._

"I think that should be our support." Warthan pointed to the sky.

A twin-prop plane with a sloped nose came in for a landing. Rice watched the Philippine Navy GAF Nomad transport taxi along the runway and stop. Seven men exited the aircraft, all wearing green, beige, and black-striped uniforms and boonie hats and loaded down with a variety of weapons, including grenade launchers and machine guns.

Philippine Navy SEALs. Rice had never cross-trained with them before, but knew of their reputation. The best and toughest of the Philippines' elite forces, the SEALs had gained an excellent reputation in operations against various Islamic and Communist insurgent groups throughout the country.

After the briefest of introductions, the two SEAL teams hustled to a waiting C-2 Greyhound, which would fly them to the _George Washington. _The Pentagon wanted that B-2 strike to go off before dark, and they were burning daylight. And in mid-November, they had less daylight to burn.

Rice waited until the Greyhound was airborne before taking hold of his pendant. Warmth radiated from it, consuming his hand. He closed his eyes. The cool of the ocean surrounded him.

_Jim Rice. _Gamera spoke in his mind. _Do you need me to stop the Gyaos again?_

_Maybe. We're on our way to Iwo Jima to rescue survivors of last night's attack. I want you close by in case the Gyaos show up._

_I will be ready to assist you. Good luck and be safe._

_Thanks, buddy._

The pendant cooled. The link between Rice and Gamera ceased. He opened his eyes and glanced around the Greyhound's cargo hold at the American and Filipino SEALs. Several of them leaned against the hull, trying to sleep.

_Good idea. _He'd barely gotten any rest in the past 24 hours. Fatigue suddenly turned his body to lead. His eyelids closed. Still, he ran down all the aspects of the mission. Iwo Jima was under continuous drone and satellite surveillance. According to the latest reports, the survivors had entered the terminal at North Field and remained inside. Despite all the damage caused by the Gyaos, they still had adequate shelter and could probably salvage plenty of food, water, and other supplies. The Los Angeles-class attack sub _USS Pittsburgh _stood by to extract the survivors. Should the Gyaos attack, not only did the SEALs have Gamera backing them up, but Major Yamagata's MF-3 Excaliburs and the air wings of the _Washington, Kuznetsov, _and _Liaoning._

Everything they needed to succeed was in place. Go in, get the survivors to the sub, then wait for Iwo Jima to return them to their Earth.

Rice prayed it all went as easy as it sounded.

**XXXXX**

As soon as the Greyhound touched down on the _Washington's _deck, the SEALs and Nagamine hustled to a waiting Seahawk. The chopper raced over the Pacific toward Iwo Jima. It came in low and landed on the other side of the island from Mount Suribachi. The latest surveillance showed no active Gyaos, and no sign of the survivors leaving the terminal.

So far, so good.

The group hiked through the scrub and trees and sand. Rice scanned around and above him, also keeping an ear out for the screeching wail of the Gyaos.

All clear. He checked his watch. They had about 80 minutes of sunlight left. That ought to be enough time.

An electric tingle passed through his body, then vanished.

"Did anyone feel that?" Nagamine's forehead wrinkled as she looked around.

"You mean like some kind of . . . buzzing?" asked Warthan.

"Yes."

"I felt it, too," said Soto. "Maybe it's the island getting ready to phase back to our Earth."

Rice noticed some of the Filipino SEALs tense. He couldn't blame them. He doubted they wanted to get stranded on a parallel Earth.

"I think we should move quicker," said Lieutenant Bonnin, the Filipino SEAL commander.

Rice wasn't about to contradict him.

When they reached North Field, Rice sent Mongkut atop one of the buildings to keep watch. Bonnin ordered his sniper to do the same. The rest of the rescue team hurried for the terminal. The building sported a few holes and scorch marks, but looked in decent enough shape, all things considered.

Something moved in one of the shattered windows. Rice brought up his grenade launcher, then took his finger off the trigger.

A short but stout man with a weathered face and dark hair in a buzzcut waved at them. Rice noticed a slim black barrel sticking up from behind the man's back. Probably a Type 89 rifle.

"Are we glad to see you," the man said as Rice and the others rushed inside. Three others stood in the middle of the room; a bearded, thirtyish man in a dirty suit who grimaced, a thin woman in her early twenties with long black hair, and a small boy about seven. All Filipino. Blankets lay on the floor near them, along with empty bowls and water bottles.

"Lieutenant Commander Rice, US Navy SEALs." He shook hands with the man, who might have been in his late forties or early fifties.

"Empoy Gamboa. How did you know we were here?"

"Recon drone spotted you. You all okay?"

Gamboa nodded. "Some bruises and cuts. Manuel over there sprained his ankle. Otherwise, we were damn lucky."

"How did you survive?" asked Lieutenant Bonnin.

"We were on a train when one of those monsters snatched us. When we got here, it started tearing into the car. I managed to get those three out." Gamboa nodded to the other survivors. "I tried to help more people, but . . ." His jaw clenched.

"You saved some," said Bonnin. "That's good work."

"Yeah." Rice nodded. "You definitely kept your head."

"I spent twenty years in the army. Infantry. Got out as a staff sergeant. I better know how to keep my head in situations like this."

Rice smiled as Gamboa continued. "After we got away, we found this base, or what was left of it. We tried to get a message out, but none of the radios or cell phones we found worked."

"Are any of those monsters still out there?" asked the girl.

"It looks like they're all asleep inside Mount Suribachi right now," Rice answered. "We've got B-2s coming in to blast them out of existence, and we've got a submarine off-shore to take you all home. Let's move."

They recalled Mongkut and the other sniper and made for the beach, with one of the Filipino SEALs aiding the man with the sprained ankle. Again, none of them saw or heard a sign of the Gyaos.

_What do you know. Everything's going according to plan. _Rice tried not to get too enthused. They still had to get the survivors aboard the submarine, take shelter when the B-2s arrived, and hope that the island returned them to their Earth. Any number of things could go tits up before that happened.

They made it to the extraction point without incident. Soto radioed the _Pittsburgh _to surface. A couple of minutes later, a black, oblong shape broke the surface over a mile from Iwo Jima. The sub's crew would send a couple of Zodiac rafts to pick up the Filipinos. Nothing to do but wa-

Something screeched in the distance.

_**TO BE CONTINUED**_


	27. Chapter 27

Rice's chest tightened as a mass of Gyaos spewed from the top of Mount Suribachi. Their screeches stretched across the island.

The young Filipino young gasped, her hands covering her mouth. The little boy wrapped his arms around her and sobbed. Former Staff Sergeant Gamboa's jaw tensed, his hands flexing around his Type 89 rifle.

"Soto, call in our air support," ordered Rice.

"Yes, sir."

"And I'll call in our monster support." Rice grasped his pendant and shut his eyes. Warmth spread over his hand. His mind flew across Iwo Jima, over the Pacific, then under the ocean until he linked with Gamera.

_Okay, big guy. It's showtime._

**XXXXX**

Yamagata eyed the screen for his AESA radar. The Gyaos resembled an undulating green cloud some fifty miles away.

"Crap," he muttered. He had hoped Rice's team could evac the civilians to the _Pittsburgh _before the Gyaos woke up.

Then again, when did _any_ plan go off without a hitch? And this was one very big, very deadly hitch.

"Gov. Ready Sunstrokes."

"Readying Sunstrokes," McGovern responded.

"Caputo," Rice called to the sensor operator behind him. "Establish targeting data link with the rest of the squadron."

"Establishing targeting data link."

The readout from their radar would be transmitted to the American, Japanese, Australian, Filipino, and Indonesian fighters in order to better coordinate their attack.

Another thought hit Yamagata. The _Pittsburgh_ had already surfaced. A submarine above the water made for an easy target.

"Blackbird, Blackbird," he radioed the Australian contingent. "Detach and take up position over the _Pittsburgh._ Don't let any of those ugly bastards get near that sub."

"Will do, Beastmaster One."

Yamagata glimpsed the F/A-18s break off. The rest of the multi-national squadron continued straight at the Gyaos swarm.

"I've got good tone on all missiles," reported Gov.

"Beastmaster Two, good tone," radioed Norris.

"Beastmaster Three, good tone," said Kemp.

More voices filled the airwaves as other pilots reported they had locked onto the monsters.

"Beastmaster One. Fox Three."

McGovern launched the Sunstrokes. Missiles flew from the other jets. Dozens upon dozens of contrails cut across the sky. Yamagata's eyes darted between the white lines beyond his windshield and the digital tracks on his AESA screen.

Yellow flashes sprang from the Gyaos swarm. Several missiles exploded in mid-air. Yamagata leaned forward in his seat. His jaw clenched tighter with every missile shot down. No way could the Gyaos knock them all down. Some had to get through. Hopefully more than some.

Fireballs blossomed within the cloud of monsters. Symbols representing the Gyaos vanished from the AESA screen. Many others remained, and were headed Yamagata's way.

**XXXXX**

Rice watched burning chunks of Gyaos tumble from the sky. The surviving creatures, and there were a lot of them, made a beeline for Yamagata's squadron.

_At least it keeps them away from the sub and the civilians. _Guilt stabbed at his heart. He felt for Yamagata and the other pilots facing the Gyaos swarm. But they knew the risks, and he was certain they'd put their lives on the line to make sure the Filipino civilians got off Iwo Jima safely.

He also knew more help was on the way, help that would tip the odds heavily in their favor.

Rice looked out at the water. Three Zodiac rafts from the _Pittsburgh _bounced across the waves.

"Lieutenant," he said to Bonnin. "Get the civilians ready to move."

"Yes, sir," replied the Filipiono SEAL leader.

The woman, young man, and little boy all shivered, their gazes locked on the Gyaos swarm and the multi-national squadron closing with each other. Even Gamboa had a nervous twitch going.

The Zodiacs were less than a mile from the beach. Rice would wait until they were a quarter-mile out before breaking cover. With a large number of man-eating monsters so close, he wanted to minimize their exposure as much as possible.

So far, all the Gyaos flew south to engage the jets.

The Zodiacs reached the quarter-mile mark.

"Go! Go! Go!" He waved everyone forward.

They dashed across the beach, the American and Filipino SEALs ringing the four civilians, weapons extended. None of the Gyaos made their way back to the island. Rice hoped it remained that way.

The sailors cut the engines of their Zodiacs and coasted to the beach. The Filipino SEALs herded the civilians onto the rafts.

"Thank you. Thank you." The young woman made a move to try and hug Rice.

One of the Filipino SEALs took her arm and gently, yet forcefully, steered her to a Zodiac. They didn't have the time for lengthy and emotional good-byes.

"Good luck." Lieutenant Bonnin nodded to Rice and the others before hoping into a Zodiac. The American sailors swung the rafts around and sped back to the _Pittsburgh._

"Soto. Contact the sub and let 'em know the Filipinos are en route."

"Yes, sir."

"Oh shit," blurted Warthan. "Commander, we've got incoming." He pointed to the sky.

Two Gyaos broke from the swarm and dove at the submarine and the Zodiacs.

Rice closed his eyes. "Don't worry, Senior Chief. We've got incoming, too."

"How close is the big -"

A _whoosh _cut off Warthan. A fireball shot over the island. Another followed. The two Gyaos veered left. Both fireballs missed.

A high-pitched, baying roar swept over Iwo Jima. Gamera flew overhead. Two more fireballs shot from his mouth. The Gyaos swerved and twisted in the sky. Both streaks of flame missed.

Rice plunged deeper into Gamera's consciousness. The beach, Nagamine, and the SEALs around him vanished. Through the turtle's eyes he watched the Gyaos wheel around, maws open. He knew what was coming.

_Drop!_

Gamera dove for the ocean. Rice glimpsed yellow flashes zipped above him. The turtle pulled up. Rice guided the beast's head toward one of the Gyaos, tracking the flying monster like he would if he held a rifle.

_Wait . . . wait . . . now!_

His throat burned, like someone shoved a torch down his gullet. Gamera spat out a fireball.

The Gyaos exploded.

A beam from the second Gyaos clipped Gamera's shoulder. A stinging sensation dug into Rice's shoulder. He grimaced, ignoring it as he aimed at the remaining Gyaos.

Gamera unleashed another fireball. The Gyaos banked right. The flaming mass struck it in the legs. Fire and smoke billowed from the monster's rear. It screeched and plunged into the ocean.

A second fireball blasted it to smoldering pieces.

_Good job, big guy._

_Thank you, Jim Rice, _Gamera's voice echoed in his mind.

_Cover the people in the rafts until they're safely aboard the sub._

_I will protect them._

Gamera circled overhead as the Zodiacs darted toward the _Pittsburgh. _Through the turtle's eyes, Rice measured the distance. Less than a mile before the rafts reached the sub. He urged the gap to close faster.

"More Gyaos!" Nagamine hollered.

"Four Gyaos inbound," Warthan added.

Through Gamera's eyes, Rice saw the winged monsters gliding toward the sub and the rafts. Fire scorched his throat again. More blasts of flame shot from Gamera's mouth. One Gyaos exploded, then another, another. The last one banked left, then right, then spat out a sonic blast. It clipped the turtle's shoulder. Gamera wailed as Rice clenched his teeth. He shunted the pain aside, willing Gamera to shoot another fireball. Another. Another.

The third one struck the Gyaos. It vanished in a flash of orange and black.

Rice glanced at the Zodiacs. They were about twenty yards from the _Pittsburgh._

_I will shield them. _Gamera swung around, retracting his head and forearms. With flames gushing from his openings, the giant turtle spun around in its "flying saucer" mode. He hovered directly over the submarine and the rafts.

Rice pulled back from Gamera's mind. He took out his binoculars and gazed out at the ocean. The Zodiacs pulled alongside the _Pittsburgh. _The sailors got the Filipino SEALS and civilians on board as fast as possible, many of them glancing up at the giant, spinning turtle above them.

"Two more Gyaos inbound!" shouted Warthan.

Rice snapped his head to the right. Two of the monsters dove on Gamera. He shifted his gaze back to the sub. Several people remained on deck, scrambling to get below.

_Gamera_. He plunged back into the turtle's mind. _The submarine's not ready to submerge. We gotta take a bullet for them, sort of speak._

_I understand, Jim Rice._

_It's going to hurt._

_Pain is not unfamiliar to me._

Teeth clenched, Rice watched the Gyaos approached. Both fired. The beams bit into Gamera's shell. A stinging, burning sensation crept up Rice's back.

_I've felt worse._

The two Gyaos opened their maws, ready to fire again.

Rice glimpsed four objects diving on the monsters. Each had a pointy nose, missiles on the wingtips, and a V-shaped twin tail. F/A-18 Hornets. The roundel on the side did not have the star common on U.S. warplanes. This one sported a kangaroo instead.

They were Australian.

ASRAAM infra-red missiles streaked away from the jets. Two hit the trailing Gyaos. The creature let out a choked cry and tumbled from the sky, trailing smoke and fire. One missile exploded on the remaining Gyaos's wing. It screeched and furiously flapped its other wing, trying to gain altitude. Two of the Hornets fired their 20mm cannons. Tracers slashed through the Gyaos. It staggered and pancaked in the water.

"Yeah!" hollered Candaele. "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie! Oi, oi, oi!"

The jets wheeled away from the dead, floating Gyaos and resumed a racetrack pattern overhead.

"_Pittsburgh _reports civilians and SEALs aboard," said Soto. "Preparing to dive."

Within a minute, the submarine slipped beneath the waves.

**XXXXX**

"Commander Rice reports _Pittsburgh_ has submerged," Caputo called out from his sensor station in the rear of the Excalibur's cockpit. "All Filipino civilians and SEALs safely aboard."

"Good," replied Yamagata. "One less thing to worry about now."

"Yeah, but we still have a lot of other things to worry about." McGovern nodded at the window.

Jets and Gyaos zipped around the sky in a mass frenzy. Missiles, tracers, and sonic beams filled the air. A monster spun out of the sky in flames. So did a jet.

Yamagata put the plane's nose on a Gyaos and triggered the GAU-8 cannons. The stream of uranium-depleted 30mm rounds fell short.

"New contacts!" warned Caputo. "Thirty miles to the east, and twenty five miles to the north." He paused. "Confirmation. Russian SU-33s to the east and Chinese J-15s to the north."

"Looks like we've got reinforcements," said Yamagata, glad to hear the air wings from _Kuznetsov _and _Liaoning _were joining the furball.

"Two Gyaos breaking off, heading north," radioed Blade.

Yamagata spotted the beasts soaring over Iwo Jima. Could they be going after the Chinese fighters? He knew from Nagamine that Gyaos had incredible eyesight and a preternatural sense of hearing and smell. He wouldn't be surprised if the monsters picked up planes 25 miles out.

"Blade, on me."

"Copy, Ninja."

The two MF-3 Excaliburs rocketed toward the island. Yamagata eased the stick right to line up on the monsters.

"Blade, you take the one on the right. I got the one on the left."

"I got right, you got left. Copy."

"Gov." He glanced at his weapons systems officer. "Put a Sunstroke up that thing's ass."

"Your wish is my command." He fingered the touch screen. "Sunstroke armed . . . good tone . . . Fox Three."

The plasma-yield missile streaked away from the Excalibur. Seconds later, another one flew from Blade's jet. Brilliant balls of white light blotted out the two Gyaos. What remained of their scorched carcasses plummeted toward the water.

"Splash two," Yamagata announced over the squadron net. "Splash two."

"Ninja! Blade!" Winter's voice blasted through his headphones. "Two Gyaos on your six!"

"Evasive maneuvers!" Yamagata shoved the stick left. G-forces pressed against him as the jet banked. He then made a sharp turn right. A sonic beam shot past.

The Excalibur shook. Yamagata grunted, grabbing the stick with both hands, fighting to level out the plane.

Another beam slammed into the jet's titanium/artificial diamond alloy hull. The Excalibur dropped. Yamagata's stomach shot into his throat. He struggled to take a breath and raise the plane's nose. He glanced at the rearview camera. The Gyaos stuck to his six. He had to find a way to get behind it before –

A jet of blue flame hit the Gyaos. It exploded.

Yamagata leveled out and whipped his head right. Another gush of flame nailed the Gyaos chasing Blade's jet. He looked down at the ocean, a smile stretching across his face.

"Looks like we got the world's ultimate reinforcement."

Towering above the waves, Godzilla leaned his head back and roared.

_**TO BE CONTINUED**_


	28. Chapter 28

"Commander, you're about to get very big, very scaly company."

Rice held his breath for a moment, clutching the receiver after hearing Yamagata's warning. "Godzilla?"

"Affirmative. Time to see how Gamera's diplomatic skills are."

"Roger that." He handed the receiver back to Soto and turned to the ocean. Gamera's head and arms slid out of his shell.

_Godzilla's here, _he told the turtle telepathically. _Let's see if you can get him to play nice._

_I will try to convince him to fight with me instead of against me._

_Good luck. _Rice watched Gamera soar over the waves, then pass overhead.

A tremor raced beneath his feet. He looked to the north. So did the other SEALs and Nagamine.

"Oh shit," Candaele muttered.

Godzilla loomed above the brush and small trees of Iwo Jima. The monster's eyes locked on Gamera. He let out a prolonged, trumpeting roar.

The giant turtle cut his rear jets, legs emerging from the openings. He landed a few hundred yards from Godzilla and roared. A softer roar than normal. Not challenging, not threatening. More . . . calming?

Godzilla didn't attack, but his eyes narrowed. A growl percolated in his throat.

Rice expected Gamera let out more roars. Instead, he stood silent. How the hell was he supposed to communicate with Godzilla? Could they even speak the same language? Heck, how did monsters communicate with each other? Maybe Nagamine might know.

The circular, rigid symbol on Gamera's chest glowed orange. An aura formed around the giant turtle, then stretched out toward Godzilla. The radioactive dinosaur appeared to tense as the light enveloped him.

"When the hell could Gamera do that?" asked Soto.

"What's he doing?" asked Lonborg.

"Mana," said Nagamine.

"What is that?" Mongkut's face scrunched.

"An energy that connects all things on Earth. That's what Gamera used to destroy Legion."

"And you think he can use it to communicate with Godzilla?" Rice glanced at Nagamine.

"It's possible. As I said, mana is linked to all living things."

Rice pressed his hand over the pendant. He hovered around Gamera's mind, keeping quiet, not wanting to risk screwing up this – negotiation? – with Godzilla.

He sensed a mental bridge forming between the two beasts. They didn't communicate in words. A stream of images raced between them, like an ethereal documentary on their lives, their battles. He watched Gamera standing among the gleaming buildings of ancient Atlantis, then battling hordes of Gyaos and Thulgiras as men, women, and children in robes ran. More recent images appeared. Gamera defending Tokyo from the Gyaos and Legion, and battling Thulgira in Korea.

Godzilla's history played before him. The mutated dinosaur battled a three-headed alien dragon, flying saucers, even a giant robotic version of himself.

A . . . calmness was the best way to describe it, settled over the two monsters. Or maybe, an understanding? Rice swore Godzilla relaxed his muscles. The hostile, distrustful gleam in his eyes faded.

The mana field vanished. Gamera roared. So did Godzilla. Neither creature made a move to attack the other.

"Soto." He signaled for the SEAL to pass him the receiver.

"Beastmaster One, SEAL team," he called Yamagata.

"One, go."

"It looks like Gamera and Godzilla are on the same page."

"Perfect timing. You've got Gyaos coming your way."

"How many?"

"All of them."

Rice stared at the sky. Dozens of Gyaos dove toward Iwo Jima.

More specifically, they dove toward Gamera and Godzilla.

The two monsters raised their heads, spotting the swarm. They both roared. A fireball shot from Gamera's mouth. Godzilla followed with a blast of radioactive breath. Several Gyaos exploded. Body parts fell from the sky in flames.

A rain of sonic beams slashed through the air. Several struck the ground around Gamera and Godzilla. One beam hit the mutated dinosaur in the shoulder. Another hit the armored plates on his back, while a third clipped the top of his head. Two other beams struck the turtle's chest. Hot pins plunged through Rice's chest. He groaned and staggered.

"Commander." Nagamine put a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm fine." He took a breath as more beams flew from the Gyaos. _Cowboy up, Jim. It's just gonna get worse from here._

Gamera and Godzilla unleashed more fireballs and atomic flame. At least ten Gyaos blew apart. More beams cut into Gamera's and Godzilla's hides. Both wailed in pain and anger. Rice bared his teeth, Gamera's pain becoming his.

_Ignore the pain. Need to fight._

Gamera spat two more fireballs. Both missed. Godzilla blasted a Gyaos with his radioactive breath.

The flying monsters fell upon them. Rice groaned, muscles tightening, as wings, beaks, and claws battered Gamera, and in turn, him. He clenched his fists. Bone spikes slid out of Gamera's elbows.

Rice lashed out with his arms. Gamera mimicked the movements. One spike slashed the throat of a Gyaos. Another plunged through the eye of a second. One of the winged monster's lunged at Gamera's throat. The turtle brought up an arm. The Gyaos clamped its jaws down on the limb. Rice let out a cry. Blood spilled from his arm. He blocked out the tearing pain and guided Gamera's fist into the Gyaos's neck, again and again.

_Snap!_

The winged monster went limp and dropped to the ground, its head bent at an unnatural angle.

Two sonic beams hit Gamera's chest. He wailed. A Gyaos bit his arm. Another rammed its feet into his back. Gamera pitched forward.

So did Rice. His face smashed into the sand. Pain hammered every part of his body. His strength slipped away.

"Jim!" Warthan rushed forward, along with Nagamine and Candaele. They helped him back to his feet.

"I'm fine." Rice growled. His legs turned to jelly. He willed himself to remain standing.

_Get up, _he urged Gamera. _Get your scaly ass up and fight!_

The turtle pushed himself off the ground. Two Gyaos flew at him. Gamera spat fireballs at them. Both exploded. Another Gyaos rammed into his back. Gamera stumbled, but stayed on his feet. He roared, swung around, and drove an elbow spike into the other monster's neck. Blood spurted from the wound. The Gyaos gagged and toppled over.

Three Gyaos clung to Godzilla, biting and clawing him. He roared and twisted around, shaking off one monster. Another sank its teeth into his neck. Godzilla let out high-pitched shriek. He grabbed the Gyaos by the neck and ripped it away. Blood flowed from the dinosaur's neck and down his chest. He slammed the creature into the ground, then reached around to the Gyaos biting his back. Godzilla slammed it down on top of the other Gyaos. He then jumped on top of them. They exploded in a mass of blood and entrails.

Godzilla whipped his tail, knocking away a Gyaos. Another fired a sonic beam at him. It zipped past the giant reptile. Godzilla unleashed his atomic breath. The Gyaos burst into flames.

A Gyaos flew into Godzilla's back, knocking him down. Two more descended on him, lashing out with their claws.

Gamera roared and charged. He batted away a Gyaos in his path, then leapt through the air. The turtle tackled the two Gyaos attacking Godzilla. All three rolled across the ground. The Gyaos flapped their wings and took to the sky. Gamera launched a volley of fireballs. The two creatures exploded.

Four more Gyaos dove at him. Sonic beams slashed into Gamera's torso. Burning, tearing sensations spread over Rice's body. He sank to one knee, straining all his muscles to keep from falling completely.

_Will not quit . . . will not quit._

Contrails cut across the sky. Missiles. Plumes of orange and black blotted out three of the Gyaos. Gamera nailed the fourth with a fireball.

"Fast movers, east and north," said Warthan.

Through Gamera's eyes, he saw the twin-tailed SU-33 Flankers and J-15 Flying Sharks from the Russian and Chinese carriers approaching the island.

One of the MF-3 Excaliburs dove at the monster melee. A white beam shot from its nose. A Gyaos turned into an ice cube.

Gamera wheeled around and clubbed a Gyaos on the head. It staggered. Gamera sank his jaws into the other monster's throat. Blood gushed from the wound. He let go. The Gyaos crumpled to the ground.

Gamera swung his arm, the elbow spike slashing the throat of another Gyaos. Godzilla burned two more with his fiery breath. An Excalibur tore apart another winged monster with its GAU-8 cannons.

A Gyaos jumped on Gamera's back. He swung his arms, trying to knock it away. Godzilla stomped over and grabbed the top of the bird-like monster's jaw. He pulled it back. A sickening _crack_ followed. Blood spilled from the monster's torn mouth.

Godzilla roared and let loose a stream of blue flame. Gamera spewed more fireballs. Jet fighters added missiles and cannon fire to the barrage. Gyaos burned and blew up.

Soon, the only two monsters standing on Iwo Jima were Gamera and Godzilla. Battered and bloodied, but still standing. The bloody and burned remains of Gyaos lay strewn around them.

The SEALs let out a cheer. Rice sank to his knees. His eyelids drooped. Unconsciousness pulled at him. How he wanted to sleep, for a day, maybe two.

He fought off the urge.

_We still have work to do. We have to take out the Gyaos eggs._

Rice felt Gamera draw on his strength, his will to keep going. The turtle turned to Godzilla and roared, waving a hand toward Mount Suribachi. Godzilla roared back. The two stomped across the island.

"Whoa, man." Candaele waved a hand in front of his face. "It smells like the world's biggest barbecue."

"Yeah, and not good barbecue," added Lonborg.

Rice took a whiff of the air and grimaced. A scorched, stale odor jammed into his nostrils. With so many Gyaos getting fried, it would leave a major stink, one so bad he wondered if it would ever leave the island.

He tried to ignore it, watching Gamera and Godzilla march closer to the mountain. Just a few blasts of fire breath from both monsters, and that would be that. No more Gyaos. Then all they'd have to so was wait until Iwo Jima phased back to its proper Earth.

_Hopefully it will._

He jerked in surprise when the top of Mount Suribachi exploded in a cloud of dirt and rock. A large form rose from the summit.

"What the hell's that?" blurted Soto.

"Oh no." Nagamine's hand covered her mouth.

Rice gazed upon the enormous beast with wide eyes. It had to be four, maybe five times the size of a normal Gyaos.

It was a Super Gyaos.

_**TO BE CONTINUED**_


	29. Chapter 29

A sonic beam shot out the Super Gyaos's mouth. It pierced Godzilla's chest. The monster wailed and staggered backwards. Gamera launched a fireball. The Super Gyaos screeched and soared into the air. The blast of fire streaked beneath it.

"It must have gorged itself on the food the other Gyaos stored," said Nagamine. "Accelerating its growth to fight Godzilla and Gamera."

Rice didn't respond to her. Through Gamera's eyes, he tracked the Super Gyaos and spat another fireball. Miss. The winged beast circled round and fired two sonic beams. Both exploded in the ground near Gamera's feet. The turtle roared and stumbled back.

The Super Gyaos dove on Gamera, slamming into his torso. He staggered, then whirled around. So did Rice. Gamera crashed against Mount Suribachi. Pain pounded Rice's body. He gritted his teeth and cracked his eyes open. With Gamera's eyes, he peered through the large hole in the mountain. His stomach clenched.

The shattered remains of at least two dozen eggs lay on the chamber floor. Several smaller Gyaos stared up at Gamera, squealing. A few had a yellowish vibration in their mouths. Pencil-thin beams shot from them, but quickly dissipated.

The Super Gyaos clamped its talons on the top of Gamera's shell. It lifted him off the ground. Gamera struggled, trying to break free.

The Super Gyaos shrieked and spun around. It flung Gamera through the air . . . and into Godzilla. Both monsters toppled to the ground.

"They're hatching," Rice growled through the pain he shared with Gamera.

"The Gyaos?" Nagamine's eyes widened.

Rice grunted and nodded.

"How big are they?" she asked.

"Maybe six, seven feet. A couple of them are already firing sonic beams. Not very powerful ones."

"They must be a few days old. It won't be long before they will be ready to fly and sustain their blasts. They may be able to fly now."

"That's all we need," said Warthan. "A couple of those things slipping away, building a nest somewhere else, and having more babies."

Rice turned back to the battle. The Super Gyaos stomped on Gamera's back. Godzilla tried to scramble out from under the turtle. He roared and let loose a tongue of blue flame. It missed. The Super Gyaos leapt off Gamera's shell and clawed Godzilla's face.

"Looks like we have to take care of this ourselves." Rice took the receiver from Soto and called Major Yamagata. "The Gyaos eggs are hatching. There are at least two dozen newborns inside Mount Suribachi."

"Shit."

"Yeah, shit is right. You flyboys need to drop whatever ordinance you have on those little bastards."

"Unfortunately, negative on your request. We expended all our Sunstrokes. All the other planes are carrying only air-to-air ordinance."

Rice held back a curse as Yamagata continued. "We've also got another problem. Most of us are close to bingo fuel. If we don't get to a tanker soon, well, it'll be a long swim back to The Philippines."

Rice scowled. He shunted his frustration to the side. No time for it. He had to think of a way to take out the baby Gyaos.

And he did.

"Beastmaster One, if you need to top off, do it. I've got another option." He lowered the receiver. "Soto, put me through to the _Pittsburgh."_

"Yes, sir."

Godzilla roared. Rice glanced over his shoulder. The mutant dinosaur grabbed the Super Gyaos by the leg and slammed it into the ground. Tremors rippled through the island.

Gamera slid off Godzilla and pounced on the Super Gyaos. He rammed a foot into the monster's chest, again and against. The Super Gyaos snapped its head up and sank its teeth into Gamera's neck. Rice felt something wet and sticky slid down his neck.

"Sir, you're bleeding." Lonborg started over to him, reaching into his first aid kit.

"_Pittsburgh's _on the line," Soto announced.

Rice waved off Lonborg and grabbed the receiver. "This is SEAL Team."

"This is _Pittsburgh _Actual. Go."

"Captain, the Gyaos eggs are hatching. There are at least two dozen babies active inside Mount Suribachi. They could be ready to fly at any time. Godzilla and Gamera are engaged with the Super Gyaos. That nest needs to be taken out now. How many Tomahawks are you packing?"

"Twelve. How many do you need on target?"

"All of them," replied Rice. "I wanna make damn sure all those things are dead."

The radio was silent for several seconds. Did the captain think using his entire stock of cruise missiles overkill?

"Copy, SEAL Team. Putting all Tomahawks on Suribachi. We'll link with air support for targeting coordinates."

"Copy, _Pittsburgh. _We'll sit back and watch the fireworks."

Rice turned back to the battle. The Super Gyaos swooped down on Godzilla and rammed its feet into his back. He flung out his arms and fell. The winged beast jumped in the air and crashed down on Godzilla. It jumped up for another strike.

Gamera roared and charged. The Super Gyaos let loose a sonic beam. It missed. Gamera grabbed the other monster and flung it aside. It crashed against the side of Mount Suribachi.

A fireball launched from Gamera's mouth. The Gyaos took off. The fiery streak exploded against the mountain.

Flames burst from Gamera's rear. He rose into the sky.

A sonic beam cut into the turtle's side. He wailed. Rice grunted, his knees buckling.

The Super Gyaos shrieked as it dove. It rammed into Gamera. He dropped to the ground shell first. Iwo Jima shook.

Rice also found himself on his back. Pain crushed his body.

_Get up. Get up._

Gamera remained on the ground.

Godzilla did not. He roared and charged the Super Gyaos.

A sonic beam sliced into Godzilla's left leg. A shower of blood burst from the gash. Another beam ripped into his legs. Godzilla staggered and fell.

An oblong-shaped object shot out of the ocean. Three more followed. Tomahawks from _Pittsburgh. _

Rice sat up, his gaze shifting between the cruise missiles and the monsters. He caught sight of one of the Excaliburs circling high above Mount Suribachi. It was probably feeding targeting coordinates to the submarine.

More Tomahawks erupted from the Pacific.

The Super Gyaos looked away from Godzilla and Gamera to the missiles.

_Oh shit. _Rice's throat tightened. _No._

Sonic beams shot out the creature's mouth. Several missed. Hope grew within Rice as the Tomahawks neared Mount Suribachi.

One missile exploded. Then another. Three more explosions dotted the sky.

Rice pounded the sand next to him with a fist. _Dammit, Gamera! Get off your ass!_

Despite being a genetically engineered super monster, Gamera was like any other turtle. Put it on its back, and it couldn't get up.

But no other turtle in the world could fly.

Rice looked past Gamera's body to the Super Gyaos. It stood 40, maybe 50 yards away, directly in front of him.

_Perfect. _Rice grinned.

The Super Gyaos blasted another missile. Gamera drew in his legs. Flames gushed from the openings . . . and washed over the winged monster's legs. It squealed and stumbled away.

Gamera lifted off. He steadily gained altitude, then flipped over and roared.

The five remaining Tomahawks rushed toward the peak of Mount Suribachi. One struck its side, sending up a plume of smoke and dirt. A second one exploded against the lip of the crater. The remaining three dropped through the opening.

Rice wondered if they'd be enough to destroy all the eggs.

Godzilla's prolonged, powerful roar blasted across the island. The monster rose, his left leg drenched in blood.

"Damn," muttered Candaele. "That is one tough son-of-a-bitch."

Blue fire leapt from Godzilla's mouth. The Super Gyaos launched itself into the air, barely missing the radioactive blast. The monster climbed higher. Godzilla spat out another tongue of flame. It also missed. The Super Gyaos looped around, lining up for a strafing run.

Rice plunged his consciousness fully into Gamera's. The turtle swung around, heading for the Super Gyaos.

_Go at him head-on. I've got an idea._

_I sense your plan, _replied Gamera. _It is risky, but I will do it._

The flames from Gamera's rear grew more intense. The monster hurtled toward its foe.

The Super Gyaos's head snapped up. It screeched and pulled out of its dive. The beast leveled out, charging straight at Gamera. The gap between them narrowed.

_Wait . . . Wait . . ._

The bird-like monster's jaws opened. A yellow shimmer formed in its mouth.

_Now!_ Gamera thought it a split-second before Rice.

The giant turtle plunged toward the island.

The Super Gyaos fired. The sonic beam zipped far above Gamera.

With a roar, Gamera pulled up. He put on an extra burst of speed.

A quake rocked Rice's body as the turtle collided with the other monster. The Super Gyaos flipped over, plummeting toward the ocean.

Gamera rocketed straight up, then looped over. Rice groaned and clenched his teeth against the crushing g-forces. He fought to focus on the Super Gyaos. It hit the water, throwing up an enormous of white.

He steered Gamera nose on with the other monster. It struggled to right itself, flapping its wings, trying to get airborne.

Gamera smashed into it. He drove the beast into the ocean floor. A brown cloud of silt kicked up around them. The Super Gyaos flailed its wings and talons.

Rice squinted, but the undulating brown mass blinded Gamera. _Just gotta go by feel._

The turtle lashed out with his clawed hands. Several times they made contact with thick flesh. The Super Gyaos thrashed and twisted, trying to break free.

Rice felt Gamera's hand strike something fleshy, but not as thick. One of the monster's wings.

_Let's ground this son-of-a-bitch, _he thought to Gamera.

_I agree._

A bone blade slid out Gamera's left elbow. He brought it down, then back, again and again. The Super Gyaos spasmed as the blade shredded its wing.

A yellow flash lit up the silt cloud. Sonic beams. One sliced into Gamera's jaws.

Rice cried out, his mouth on fire. The Super Gyaos slid free of Gamera and kicked toward the surface. Rice pushed down the pain, urging the turtle to pursue.

The winged monster broke the surface. Rice pulled out of Gamera's eyes. He watched the Super Gyaos flapping its one good wing and one torn wing. It couldn't take flight.

Godzilla roared. The radioactive dinosaur stood on the beach, its narrowed eyes aimed at the Super Gyaos.

_Gamera, stay below. I think Godzilla's got this._

_I will do as you say._

The Super Gyaos shrieked and kept flapping its wings. It almost got airborne, but tilted to the left and dropped in the water.

A blue glow formed over the plates on Godzilla's back. A stream of blue fire shot over the water. Flames swept over the Super Gyaos. It let out a final, agonized cry before exploding.

"Yeah!" Candaele pumped a fist, then slapped Soto on the back.

Nagamine let out a relieved breath. Warthan and Mongkut nodded.

_The Super Gyaos is destroyed, _thought Gamera.

_Yeah, but we're not done yet, _Rice replied. _We still have those baby Gyaos to take care of._

_You are correct._

Gamera surfaced, roared, and jerked his head toward Mount Suribachi. Godzilla turned to the battered mountain, looked back to Gamera, and roared.

The giant turtle stalked out of the water to join the mutated dinosaur. The pair tramped up to Mount Suribachi. Gamera peered through the opening. Rice saw several eggs shattered and smoldering. Scorched pieces of young Gyaos lay throughout the chamber.

Many other eggs and baby monsters had survived the Tomahawk strike.

_Not for long._

Both monsters opened their mouths. Fireballs and blue flame blasted through the nest. A column of smoke and fire sprang from the summit, turning Mount Suribachi into a volcano.

Gamera and Godzilla ceased their firestorm. They looked to one another, reared back their heads, and let out triumphant roars.

"Soto." Rice motioned to the radio. "Get Major Yamagata on the horn."

The SEAL switched to the proper frequency and handed him the receiver.

"Beastmaster One, SEAL team."

"Go SEALs," replied Yamagata.

"Major, I'm happy to report your Earth is officially Gyaos free."

_**NEXT: THE CONCLUSION**_


	30. Chapter 30

The place was called the Jet Jaguar. Yamagata had been in several bars like this before. The decor left no doubt about the establishment's preferred clientele; pilots from the nearby air base. Flightsuits, helmets, oxygen masks, even the wingtip from a P-51 Mustang hung from the walls. So did photos of various aircraft, along with pilots and air crew who had died in accidents at Atienza Air Base. A TV hung over the bar, and a pool table, a dartboard, and a pair of video games had been set up in the back.

It proved the perfect place for the men and women of the multi-national squadron to honor those who died fighting the Gyaos.

A Filipino major lifted his shot glass of whiskey. "To our comrades-in-arms who gave their lives to defend the people of the Pacific from the Gyaos. Let us mourn their loss, remember the times we spent together, and honor their memory and bravery."

Dozens of voices blurted, "Salud," "Hear, hear," or "Yeah." Glasses went up, then golden liquid was knocked back.

Yamagata moaned as the warm, sweet sensation lingered on his throat.

Winter called for another round. "To all the civilians lost because of the Gyaos, and to all their families mourning them."

The pilots raised their glasses and downed their whiskey. Yamagata noticed Winter's glass contained Coca-Cola instead of alcohol.

Next, the commanders of each contingent read off the names of the pilots lost. Since the surviving U.S. Navy pilots were all back on the _George Washington, _Blade read their names, being the Beastmasters' USN representative.

Yamagata kept his head lowered throughout the readings. A lump formed in his throat and tears stung the corners of his eyes. Most of the multi-national pilots he didn't know, while others he only knew in passing. Not that it mattered. American, Filipino, Japanese, Australian, Indonesian, they were all part of the brotherhood. They were fighter pilots. They lived on the razor's edge. They knew the risks that came with their profession. Even before today, many in this room lost friends, either in combat or in training accidents. Yet they continued to take to the air to perfect their skills or defend their countries, or the entire world, against threats, either human or kaiju.

And they would keep doing it. That was their duty.

After they finished reading the names, they drank another round in their honor. Then the beer began flowing, some of it imported brands from the U.S. or Australia, others brewed here in the Philippines.

Yamagata made his way to the bar when he noticed Winter nearby. The tall, dark-haired woman smiled and shook her head at one of the Filipino pilots, who walked away with a dejected look.

"Shot down in flames, I take it."

Winter shrugged. "I already have a boyfriend. He doesn't run around on me when I deploy. I figure I should return the favor."

Yamagata nodded, noticing Winter held a bottle of Coke. _Must be the queen of teetotalers._

"I just wanted to tell you, you did a good job here. You definitely proved yourself as a Beastmaster."

Winter straightened, her smile widening. "Thanks, Ninja . . . and thanks for giving me the chance."

"You earned it."

They shook hands. Yamagata then headed for the bar and ordered a San Miguel beer.

"Buy a girl a drink?"

He turned to see Nicole next to him, her back against the bar, giving him a wry grin.

"I only buy drinks for very special girls. Luckily, you qualify."

"Yay." Nicole giggled.

Yamagata ordered two San Miguels and handed one to his girlfriend.

"Well, here's to saving the world again from giant monsters." Nicole clinked her bottle against Yamagata's.

"We had a lot of help." He took a swig. "Including from a giant fire-breathing turtle from another Earth. Holy crap, that sounds like something out of a bad movie."

"Mm." Nicole gripped her bottle by the neck and stared at the floor.

"Something on your mind?" asked Yamagata.

"Just thinking about Commander Rice, Doctor Nagamine, all the others. I checked before we came over. Iwo Jima has winked out a couple of times over the past few hours. But who knows when it might phase back to its actual Earth. Actually, there's no guarantee it will do that. Who's to say those people and Gamera won't wind up on a completely different Earth? I'm sure they all have families. I know Commander Rice's wife is pregnant. I'd just feel so bad for him if he never sees her again, never sees his baby period."

"Unfortunately, it's out of our hands. All we can do is pray it works out for them."

Yamagata took Nicole's hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. His stomach lurched when he imagined the situation reversed. What if it was him who might never see Nicole again? Their ten months apart following the Second Civil War had been hard enough. What if they were apart . . . forever?

He hated that thought. To never see her, hold her, just be with her. It was inconceivable.

He brought Nicole's hand to his lips and kissed it. Then he gazed at her fingers, particularly her ring finger.

Had the time come?

**XXXXX**

Rice groaned as he woke after a 12-hour sleep. His entire body was sore. Big deal. He'd felt a hell of a lot worse during BUD/S – a.k.a, SEAL training.

He rose from the cot in the troop barracks at North Field, then stretched for a few minutes. One good thing about his link with Gamera was the turtle's rapid healing ability. Yesterday he'd felt half-dead after the battle with the Gyaos. Today . . . well, he couldn't declare himself 100 percent. Maybe 85 or 90 percent. More than good enough.

Using his mental link, he checked on Gamera. The monster slumbered about three miles from the base. After his hellacious battle with the Gyaos the day before, he'd earned some rack time.

He also wondered how Godzilla fared after the fight. The radioactive dinosaur had marched back into the ocean after destroying the young Gyaos. From what Yamagata and others on this Earth told him, Godzilla's healing abilities were on par with Gamera's.

Rice exited the barracks, staring at the green-brown hilly landscape of Iwo Jima, still stuck on this parallel Earth. He walked to the front gate, where Mongkut stood guard. Despite the destruction of the Gyaos nest, Rice ordered a watch set, just in case some of the ugly bastards escaped Gamera's and Godzilla's fiery onslaught.

"Everything is quiet," reported the Thai sniper. "Everything has been quiet since you went to sleep."

"And now I've had my fill of sleep. How long until you stand down?"

Mongkut glanced at his watch. "Twenty minutes."

"Good. I'll relieve you. It's about time I pull my weight around here."

Mongkut didn't chuckle. Yeah, it was a lame, unoriginal joke, but it at least deserved a small grin.

Then again, Mongkut had to be one of the least expressive men Rice had ever known.

Nothing happened during Rice's watch. Nothing happened for the rest of the day. A few times he felt a very brief, electric buzz over his skin. Probably Iwo Jima winking out.

_Enough of the winking. Pop back to our Earth._

Despite the damage the Gyaos caused to North Field, they could still use the base for shelter, and they found enough food, water, and other supplies to sustain them for weeks. Hopefully it wouldn't take that long for Iwo Jima to phase back to their Earth.

Hopefully it would be their Earth.

_With our luck, it'll be a post-apocalyptic Earth, or one ruled by Lava Men, or one where Tom Brady was never born._

The next day, a Japanese Air Self-Defense Force C-130 transport flew over the island and dropped a pallet. It landed on the beach a mile from Mount Suribachi. The SEALs and Nagamine hiked over to it, winding their way around the corpses and body parts of Gyaos. The pallet contained Geiger counters and dosimeter badges similar to those worn by crewmembers on nuclear powered submarines. They still had one final task to perform for the multi-national coalition. Recon Mount Suribachi and confirm all Gyaos were dead.

Nagamine handled the Geiger counter as they made for the mountain. "The readings are slightly elevated, but well within the safety range."

Rice nodded. The higher ups had told them that they had never found more than trace amounts of radioactivity in those areas where Godzilla used his fire breath. The theory was the monster reabsorbed the radiation left over from each blast.

For once, it seemed the higher ups actually knew what they were talking about.

The group entered the mountain. The place smelled like lingering barbecue, and unappetizing barbecue at that. Still, Nagamine picked up no elevated radiation readings, and the dosimeters did not change color.

They went into the nest. The massive opening in the summit provided enough sunlight that they didn't need their flashlights. The walls were charred. Ash covered the floor. Several burnt carcasses lay around them.

One of those carcasses crocked and twitched.

The group froze. The baby Gyaos's skin was a bubbly black instead of the usual red-gray. Its eyes had melted. Rice couldn't believe the damn thing had survived Gamera's and Godzilla's attack.

"Candaele." He jerked his head toward the gravely injured monster. "Finish the job."

"My pleasure." The big SEAL strode over and hefted his SAW. He fired three bursts into the baby Gyaos. It didn't move or crock again.

They found no other living Gyaos in the chamber.

Once outside, Rice radioed the operations center at Atienza Air Base. "Recon of Mount Suribachi complete. All Gyaos are dead. Repeat, all Gyaos are dead."

"Say -" Static drowned out the reply. "Bre . . . Rep . . ."

"Skyfire," Rice used the code for the base's ops center. "Say again."

Static crackled from the receiver.

He started to open his mouth when the world faded around him. A second later, everything solidified. Dizziness swept through his head. Nagamine swayed from side to side. A couple of the SEALs groaned.

"Did you all feel that?" Lonborg rubbed his forehead.

"Yeah," said Rice. "Maybe this means -"

Again, everything around him faded, then rematerialized.

_Jim Rice, what is happening? _Gamera spoke in his mind. _Everything feels strange._

_This could be a good thing. It might mean we're about to go home._

The island faded. Blackness fell over Rice's eyes. He felt nothing, heard nothing. Panic slithered through him. It took an effort to beat it down.

The black veil melted away, replaced by blue sky. It took Rice a moment to realize he was on his back, along with the other SEALS and Nagamine. He pushed himself up to a sitting position. "Everyone okay?"

The others nodded or replied, "Yeah," as they sat up.

"You think this means we're back on our Earth?" asked Candaele.

"Only one way to find out." Rice turned to Soto. "Try to raise the _Kurishio."_

"Okay." The SEAL called the Japanese submarine that had dropped them off on Iwo Jima before the accident. After three tries, he did not get any response.

"Maybe they gave up on us," said Warthan. "It has been a few days since all this crazy shit started."

"Contact the _Reagan_," ordered Rice. "Hopefully we can get through to them."

"I hope so." Soto switched frequencies. "This is U.S. Navy SEAL team on Iwo Jima calling Gipper. Do you read?"

Silence.

Dread clamped down on Rice's soul. _Please don't let this be another parallel Earth. _Rita's face formed in his mind's eye. Would he ever see her –

"SEAL Team, Gipper," a voice finally came over the radio. "Is your CO there?"

"Affirmative." Soto handed Rice the receiver.

"This is Commander Rice, requesting to speak with Admiral Breeden."

A pause. "Wait one, Commander."

Rice took it as a good sign. At least they didn't say, "Who the hell is Admiral Breeden?"

Several minutes passed before the sailor on Reagan spoke. "Commander, what's the name of your tenth grade girlfriend?"

A security question. Rice expected this. They had vanished off the face of the Earth, literally.

"I had two. Jessica Holdsworth and Megan Singleton."

"Who is your second favorite Red Sox player?

"David Ortiz."

"Verified. Standby for Admiral Breeden."

Seconds later, he heard the familiar voice of the CO of the _Reagan _carrier strike group. "Commander? Where in the hell have you been?"

"Sir, if you'll indulge me. Was South Korea attacked by a monster named Thulgira last year?"

"What?" The shocked response froze Rice with fear.

Breeden continued. "You ought to know the answer to that. You were there. Hell, you linked with Gamera to defeat that monster and save Japan and Alaska from getting nuked."

Rice couldn't contain himself. Joy blew away every ounce of discipline he had. He threw his arms in the air. "We're back home!"

The group whooped, high-fived, and hugged. Tears of joy slid down Nagamine's cheeks. Rice barely heard the admiral's tinny shouts over the celebration.

"Commander Rice? Commander! What the hell is going on?"

"I'm sorry, sir. It just feels good to be back."

"Back? Just where the hell were you?"

"It's a long story, and a pretty wild one, too."

**XXXXX**

Rice gave a condensed of the events on the parallel Earth. He expected Breeden to call him crazy, but the admiral explained after their disappearance, U.S. and Japanese troops searched Iwo Jima. While they didn't find any living Gyaos, they did find several items that caused confusion to the brass. Damaged aircraft with tail numbers that didn't match anything in the JMSDF inventory. Names of base personnel not in the Defense Force's records, and most curious of all, a DVD with a documentary of giant monster attacks on Japan.

"Sounds like you and your team are in for the mother of all debriefs," said Breeden. "I'll get a meeting arranged at the Japanese Ministry of Defense. Meanwhile, the helicopter carrier _Hyuga_ is about twenty miles west of Iwo Jima. I'll have them dispatch a chopper to pick you up."

"Copy, sir. We'll be waiting."

Rice handed the receiver to Soto when he heard Gamera's voice in his head.

_We have returned to our world and the threat by the Gyaos is no more. It is time to severe our link and for me to leave._

_I kinda figured that. Thanks for all your help. We couldn't have done it without you._

_I could not have defeated the Gyaos without you, or all your human friends. It is an honor to have you as a link._

_Likewise. Take it easy, big guy._

_Goodbye, Jim Rice._

With one last roar, Gamera blasted into the sky. He spun around, the flames creating a blue aura around his shell, and streaked toward the horizon.

Rice watched him depart, disappointment bubbling within him. The first time he'd linked with Gamera in Korea, it had come as a shock, and it took a long time for him to accept that strange bond. This time . . . he'd welcomed it, felt no reservations about Gamera being a part of his consciousness. He'd been confident that no matter how bad things, the fire-breathing turtle would always have their backs.

Now he was gone.

Warthan slapped him on the shoulder. "You and a giant turtle. That's gotta be the strangest friendship in the world."

"Ha! Maybe we can give the big guy a new nickname. 'Gamera, the friend of all Navy SEALs.'"

**XXXXX**

The helicopter arrived an hour later and flew them back to the _Hyuga_. After a change of clothes and something to eat, the Japanese captain allowed them to contact their families.

Rice closed his eyes, fighting back tears when he heard Rita's voice, a voice he feared he might never hear again.

"Thank God. Thank God." His wife's voice cracked. "I didn't know what to think. The Navy said you disappeared, not knowing . . . I haven't been more scared in my life."

"Well I'm back." He had to concentrate to keep his voice steady. "I never lost hope I'd see you again."

Rita sniffled. "Are you coming home soon?"

"I hope so. Hell, after what we've been through I think all of us earned some leave time."

Rice bit his lip. He'd have, what, three, maybe four weeks with his wife? Then it'd be back to duty, and off to who the hell knew where for who the hell knew how long? More months away from Rita, and soon, their child as well. Could he do that for another four, five, or six years? Could they be a family like that?

After finishing his conversation with Rita, Rice went to his berth and stayed there the rest of the night. He had a lot of thinking to do.

**XXXXX**

The next morning a helicopter flew the SEALs and Nagamine to Japanese MOD headquarters. Admiral Breeden greeted them at the helipad and led them to a conference room on the 12th floor. Several uniformed and civilian personnel were already there, including an unsmiling man wearing large glasses and a dark suit.

Mr. Saito from the National Public Safety Commission.

Rice's eyes narrowed. He thought back to the briefing in this very building before they left for Iwo Jima, where this jerkweed talked about the JSDF's particle beam plane.

_Particle beam my ass._

"Doctor." He looked at Nagamine. "I need to get some answers from Mister Saito about what the hell that plane was carrying."

"I would like answers to that, too."

"Good, 'cause I want you to translate for me."

"I am sure there is a professional translator at the Ministry who could do that."

"I'm sure there is," replied Rice. "But I don't trust any of them. I trust you."

A smile crossed Nagamine's face. She followed Rice as he stalked over to the bureaucrat.

Saito forced a smile and said something in Japanese to Nagamine.

"Mister Saito says he is very glad I have returned safe and sound . . . he is also glad you have returned safely."

"He may not be so glad in another minute."

Rice stopped inches from Saito. He winced and looked away, uncomfortable at his personal space being invaded.

"That was not a particle beam on that 767. What was it?"

Nagamine translated Rice's words. Saito's eyes widened behind his glasses. He backed up a step.

"I asked you a question." Rice spoke louder. "What kind of weapon was that plane carrying?"

"Commander," said Breeden. "Back off, now."

Rice froze. He was this close to disobeying an order, from a two-star admiral nonetheless.

Two stars, three stars, fifty stars, he didn't care. He wanted the truth.

"You are mistaken," Saito stammered. "It was a particle beam."

"You lying sack of shit!" Rice grabbed the bureaucrat by the throat and slammed him against the wall.

"Commander, stop! Now!" shouted Breeden. "That's an order!"

Three of the uniformed JSDF men hurried over. Warthan and the other SEALs blocked them. One officer tried to bull his way past. Candaele grabbed the man by the arm and back of the neck and smashed his face into the conference table.

"Listen up, ass-hats." Warthan glared at the other two officers. Nagamine, despite her shocked expression, translated. "We were stuck on a friggin' parallel Earth with a shit-ton of Gyaos, a fire-breathing dinosaur, and no idea if we'd ever get back home. My CO there, his wife's pregnant. He mighta never seen his kid. So we're not going anywhere until that four-eyed limpdick tells us what we wanna know. You got a problem with that, you'll wind up unconscious, and we'll make damn sure it hurts before you black out."

None of the Ministry people moved.

Warthan nodded to Candaele, who let his officer go.

Rice turned back to Saito. "So, what's it gonna be? The truth, or lots of pain?"

Saito crocked and gagged.

"Commander Rice," Nagamine said tentatively. "I cannot understand a word Mister Saito has said."

Rice looked at his hand around the man's throat. "Yeah, I guess this would make it tough to talk."

He let go of Saito's throat . . . and grabbed and twisted the man's wrist. He cried out in pain.

"Now how do I know that plane wasn't carrying a particle beam weapon?" said Rice. "How about the fact that the Earth we went never heard of the Gyaos before. But when we got there, the people we were with told us their first Gyaos attacks happened two days _before_ Iwo Jima phased out of our Earth. My comms specialist Soto, who by the way is a friggin' science genius, told us that matter cannot be completely destroyed, and there was no trace of the Gyaos your 767 killed over Tokyo. So to me, it sounds like you built something that didn't kill the Gyaos, but transported them to another Earth, where they killed thousands and threatened millions more." His voice rose with the last few words.

"Am I right?" He twisted Saito's wrist more.

"_Hai! Hai! Hai!"_

That word Rice didn't need Nagamine to translate for him.

"So you built a weapon that could send the Gyaos to another world?"

"_Hai."_

"How?"

"The Bell."

Nagamine's face scrunched in confusion as she translated.

"What bell?" asked Rice. "What are you talking about?"

"A unique device. The Germans. They gave it to us."

"Why would the Germans give you something like this?" asked Soto.

"Not now," explained Saito. "The Germans found it during World War Two, and called it the Bell. They experimented on it for years, but never figured out its purpose. When the Nazis were on the brink of defeat, they loaded many of their advanced weapons and projects onto U-boats and transported them to Japan to keep them out of Allied hands, and in the hopes we could use them to fight the Allies."

Saito drew a breath before continuing. "The U-boat carrying the Bell was docked in a cave near Samani in the north. The military had just begun examining it when the war ended. We suspect the commander in charge of the Bell sank the submarine and sealed the cave to make sure the Americans didn't seize it. Then fifteen years ago, a group of explorers managed to get into the cave and found the U-boat. They contacted the government, and we found the Bell."

"And you started experimenting with it." Rice let go of Saito's hand. "And what, you found it could open a gateway to another world?"

"Yes." Saito grimaced and rubbed his wrist. "After the first appearances of the Gyaos and Gamera, the Ministry of Defense felt the Bell could be turned into a weapon to protect Japan against future monster attacks."

"I'm betting your weapon was never fully stabilized." Soto stared stone-faced at the bureaucrat. "Otherwise why would it just explode?"

Saito eyed the floor. "There were some . . . problems with the energy core. But given the threat to the country, we felt the risk was . . . negligible."

"Did the crew of that plane know how 'negligible' those risks were?" Warthan scowled.

Saito didn't answer, which Rice took as confirmation he hadn't told the crew shit.

The bureaucrat straightened, his face and back stiffening, trying to present some look of being in control. "There. Now you know what sort of weapon we used on the Gyaos." He looked around Rice to Breeden. "Admiral, I demand this man be turned over to Japanese custody. He assaulted a member of the government. He needs to stand trail."

"Go ahead." Rice extended his arms to his side. "Give me my day in court. I can talk about how you used Nazi technology to build an inter-dimensional weapon that cost the lives of what, a dozen or two dozen Defense Force personnel who had no clue how dangerous that thing was."

"And I will be glad to mention how your weapon resulted in the Gyaos being let loose on another Earth," Nagamine added, "where they killed thousands."

Rice aimed a cold grin at Saito. "I'm sure this will put your government in such a positive light."

Saito's shoulders slumped. "I am sure none of this needs to be made public."

"There is one other thing you can do to ensure our silence," said Nagamine.

"What?"

"Resign."

Saito shivered. He lowered his head, and nodded.

"As far as I'm concerned, you're getting off easy." Rice's tone was low and menacing. "I'd like to see your worthless ass dropped onto some icy rock of an island in the Aleutians, but I guess this'll have to do."

Rice started to turn away when Saito said, "I was trying to protect my country."

"How? By letting the Gyaos threaten another world?"

"I'd rather have them attack another Japan than this one."

A wildfire of rage swept through Rice. He thought of all the multi-national coalition pilots and all the sailors on the _Ballarat _killed fighting the Gyaos. He thought of all the people killed when those monsters attacked their cities, and the ones carried away to Iwo Jima for food. Did their lives not mean a damn thing to this callous bastard?

Rice spun and launched a fist into Saito's face. He crumpled to the floor. Nagamine stared at him, and nodded.

Rice started to walk away, only to have Admiral Breeden stand in his way.

"Commander, I don't care if you escaped a trial in Japan. You assaulted and blackmailed a member of a foreign government. You disobeyed a direct order from a superior officer. Those are two things I cannot ignore. I imagine the Pentagon also won't want this to go to a court martial because information about the Bell coming to light could embarrass an important ally of the United States. But promotions, advancement, preferred assignments. None of that is going to happen. I'll make sure of that. If I were you, I wouldn't plan on much of a future in the Navy."

Rice shrugged. "Honestly, sir, that's fine with me. I think it's time for me to stop being a full-time SEAL, and start being a full-time husband and father."

_**THE END**_

_Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed this story. Feel free to check out my original novels, the sea monster thriller "Sea Raptor," the invasion of America novel "Fallen Eagle: Alaska Front," and the alien invasion novel "Dark Wings," all available on Amazon and published under John J. Rust._


End file.
